War's Lullaby
by DragonScouter
Summary: She was taken from her family...Pandimala has made the Autobots regret that action since the solar cycle they took her away. However, this time she has annoyed the council enough to be put into Trypticon Prison. But, that starts a chain of events that even Pandimala could not have imagined. Re-Write of Family. Rated T because I am extremely paranoid.
1. Prologue

**AN: I only own my OCs.**

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 **Authoress: And hello everyone! Even though this is the beginning of the story I am breaking rules so we can sing happy birthday!**

 **Kup: *grumbles* This is ridiculous.**

 **Ultra Prime: *sighs* We had better get this over with.**

 **All three: *sing* Happy belated birthday to you! Happy belated birthday to you!**

 **Authoress: *sings* Happy belated birthday dear Jazzilynn Hall!**

 **All three: *sing* Happy belated birthday to you!**

 **Kup: *huffs* I'm going back to relaxing now. *takes a drag from cygar*  
**

 **Authoress: *frowns* You know those are going to offline you one solar cycle right?**

 **Kup: *smirks* You're probably going to kill me before these things get the chance.**

 **Authoress: *shrugs* Touche.**

 **Ultra Prime: *sighs* You are both crazy.**

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Prologue

 **Shimmerwing's 1** **st** **P.O.V.**

"Take your brother and sister! Go and hide!" I whispered to my eldest creation as the house shook. I felt fear in my spark but…this was my only option. I had to get my creations out of here. However, as I continued to look at the creation I was speaking to, I could tell he was scared. His red optics were wide and they showed the fear that he was probably feeling in his spark. He was old enough to just be considered to be in his youngling cycles so he would have a sense that was happening to us right now and so that was what was scaring him…as it should.

"But carrier," My eldest started to argue with me. "what about jou and sire?" He stood their next to his sister and their little brother…who his sister was holding.

I shook my helm and ushered them into a back room. While I wanted to run with my creations and my bondmate, I knew that my colors would let the enemy spot us in a nano-click…this was the first time that I found myself hating my green, purple and tan coloring. It also didn't help that I was seeker. But, my bondmate, Blitzkrier, and I had found a way to live among the Autobots on Cybertron as a neutral. We didn't want to get involved in this war but, as the house shook again, I realized that there was no longer a choice. Blitzkrier and I had to fight to make sure that our three creations survived.

The Autobots had known that we had created three triple changer creations and I found myself wondering why they were just now coming after us? I didn't think anything had changed but, who knew what really set the Autobots off? I just had to protect my creations. The Autobots were never going to get my creations if I could help it. I wanted my creations to have the ability to choose their destiny and not have it thrust upon them by this skirmish that was starting to rise up between the Decepticons, the gladiator Megatron and his followers, and the Autobots, which included the council and their followers.

I had to reassure my creations, though, so I put on a reassuring smile and gave them a nudge toward the door. "Please Blitzwing…everything will be alright if you just go and hide." I flinched as the sound of a blast that made our house shake hit. I felt slight pain from Blitzkrier and knew that the Autobots were getting close. "Get out of here now you three and don't look back!" I ordered them before I took out my two broadswords. "Whatever happens, stick together…all three of you. While Chaom is still too young to understand this…you two aren't." I addressed my two eldest. "You will be able to help each other better if you stay together." I felt another round hit the house and I knew that I need to get to Blitzkrier now! "Now go! I love you all!"

I then ran forward…away from my creations. While I had a feeling that this was going to be the last time I saw them, I felt peace. I knew that they had each other and, as long as they had each other, I knew that they were going to be alright.

When I got to the living room, I saw that Blitzkrier had set up a barricade to help slow down the Autobots. "Our creations?" he asked me.

I nodded my helm and prepared myself for battle. "They will be alright. We just have to buy them time." Leaning over to my bondmate, I placed my forehelm against his. "Blitzkrier…I am glad that I came back." I was referencing one of our fist dates, and I knew he would figure out what I was talking about.

In return, Blitzkrier placed a soft kiss onto my lip-plates and we stayed like that for a nano-click before he pulled away slightly. I could feel his out-takes against my faceplate as he spoke. "Shimmerwing, I am glad that you came back."

The front door finally crashed open and the two of us separated before charging at the invaders. They would have to take my spark before they touched our creations. I would make sure of that.

 **Blitzwing's 1** **st** **P.O.V.**

I felt panicked as I ran toward the back door. Something was wrong. Something was very wrong. I knew that something was wrong because carrier was sending us to go and hide. She never did that. She always let us stay with them. Why did we have to go and hide? I was so confused. But, the fear that I saw on carrier's faceplate convinced me to listen to her. My carrier was never scared. Never. Since she was scared…I wasn't even sure what to think. Why was this happening? I didn't understand what was going on.

When I had seen those Autobots approaching the house and told my carrier and sire about it…I didn't expect them to react like this. Immediately, sire had run to the living room and carrier had taken us to the back before telling us to run. Why were the Autobots doing this? We never did anything to them! This wasn't fair!

"'Wing…I'm scared."

I looked to my sister, who had said this, and I could see that she was terrified. She wasn't that much younger than me and so I knew that she understood some of what was going on. Thankfully, Chaom was still too young to figure out what was happening. But, I had to calm my sister down so we could continue to run. "Ve must keep moving forvard. Everyzhing vill be okay."

My plan was, after we got outside and to the yard, to take the hidden doorway that carrier and sire had shown both my sister and me plenty of times in the past. The hidden pathway led to the transit station nearby and, once we got there, we were going to flee to Crystal City. That city was still largely neutral and sire and carrier had friends there who could help us.

Deep in my spark, though, I had a feeling that all of our trouble was only just beginning if we didn't get some more distance between ourselves and the Autobots that were… _attacking_ our home. I took another look at my sister and brother and sighed. I was the big brother and it was my responsibility to make sure that they stayed safe. I was going to make sure that I kept them safe no matter what sort of thing happened. That was my vow. I had to keep it. I wasn't sure what would happen if I couldn't.

"Blitzy…" My sister started again. "where are we going?" My sister, she was one that loved to ask questions. She wanted to know the answer to everything that was going on. Whenever sire and carrier would ask her to do something…she would ask them why? She only needed to be told once but she wanted to make sure that she wanted to do it first.

However, I knew that she wasn't going to like my response so I sighed. "I can't tell jou now. Ve cannot risk letting zhe Autobots knowing vhere ve are going."

Her look immediately turned stubborn and I knew that our trip was going to be filled with a lot of arguing. We had a habit of arguing with each other a lot. There were only five stellar cycles between the two of us in age…unlike the twenty between my brother and I, and that meant that my sister and I didn't always see optic to optic.

Before she could say anything though, and as the back door shut behind us, the sound of blaster fire stopped in the house and…since I didn't hear carrier and sire calling us back inside…I knew that they were gone. They…they were gone. My creators…they were gone! How could the Autobots do this!? I would make them pay! When I was older I would make them all pay!

A cry of despair coming from my sister snapped me out of my thoughts and I realized that I had stopped. So, I continued to lead my sister and brother away from our home…away from all that we had known. All of the memories growing up happily with our family were just that…memories.

But, I couldn't mourn anymore now. We still had Autobots after us and I would not fail carrier and sire. They wanted me to watch out for my siblings and that was what I was going to do. We would take the tunnel and get to the transit station…we just had to get to the tunnel before the Autobots caught up to us.

When I arrived at the covered entrance, I quickly uncovered it before picking up the latch and dropping down the hole. I was first because I…as the oldest, had to make sure that it was safe for my sister and brother to follow. Once I took a scan and saw that there was no danger down here, I looked up at my sister. "Okay…send him down."

My sister nodded and, soon, I had my brother in my arms. He looked up at me…an innocent look in his blue optics. He wouldn't understand what happened until he was older. But, I knew that my sister and I would tell him. Tell him what our sire and carrier were like and how awesome they were!

I went to tell my sister to follow but it seemed like she had other plans. "Get going Blitzy!"

What…what was she doing?! Carrier told us to stay together and we had to! We just had to! "Vhat are jou doing? Carrier told us to stay togezher! Get down here now!" This was not the time to be arguing! The Autobots could discover us at any nano-click and then we would all be caught.

However, my sister was not budging. "The Autobots aren't as stupid as we want them to be Blitzy! I'm going to lead them away from you and give you two time to escape. Now stop arguing with me and go!"

Before I could stop her, she shut the cover of the tunnel. "NO!" I yelled after she did that. Now…not only have I lost my creators…but my sister as well. While I wanted to go and stop her…protect her…I knew that I had to make sure my little brother stayed safe. So, I started to run down the path. However, as I ran, I felt fear for my sister rise up in my systems. Would I ever see her again?

 **Kup's 1** **st** **P.O.V.**

Throwing my cygar stub to the ground, I growled as I pulled a new one out of my sub-space and lit it. I knew that something hadn't been right about this mission from the beginning and now…now I was really regretting letting that fragging Viral Magnus convince me into coming along. When I had been briefed about the mission…it had sounded simple.

…Too simple.

Our mission was simple; go in and acquire three triple changers for the Autobot side. Didn't sound like there was going to be any fighting and that this was simply a pickup sort of mission. I had assumed that they needed me on the mission just in case the Decepticons attacked our transport of the triple changers. It wasn't a secret that the Autobots did not have a single flyer on our side and the Decepticons had that advantage. If the Decepticons had heard about us going to acquire three triple changers then they would want to stop us at all costs. The footage that the council had released showed that the Decepticons were not above bombing innocent sparklings, younglings, and carriers who were not in support of them in the war.

But, now…all I was seeing was the monsters called Autobots…my kind…attacking a neutral family just to obtain a few triple changers…one youngling and two sparkling from the data that I was _just now_ allowed access to. This…this was murder but I couldn't stop it. I wish that I could…but I couldn't. This order had come direct from Viral Magnus and to refuse an order from him…or refuse to carry it out once accepted…was paramount with treason. I was no traitor.

As of now, the creators were offlined and the troops that I had with me were scouring the house for any sign of the triple changers. They couldn't have gotten far and, even though I didn't like how this mission was run or the outcome, I knew we had to find the triple changers so they could at least have a nice home to be raised in. They wouldn't survive on the streets. The Decepticons would find them and who knew what sort of horrors those maniacs would inflict on them?

"Hey! There's one outside!"

My helm snapped toward the back yard when I heard one of the troops yell that from the back door. I quickly made my way through the house and out the back door. There, I found myself stopping when my optics located the triple changer. It was the only femme that the report had in its record and she was trying to climb the fence. I flinched when I saw the look in her optics. It was fear. She was desperate to get away. Her brothers must have already gone ahead because I didn't see a trace of them. She was the only one that I saw but I saw that she was desperate to escape.

Three of the Autobots on the 'retrieval' team soon arrived at the fence and started to pull the femme down. I had to smirk, though, when the femme kicked out at them and hit the middle one straight in the faceplate. That little femme had a kick to her…that was for sure. The three of them struggled with the femme for a few more clicks before they finally got her off the fence. Since I was to assist on this mission, I made my way over to them as they injected a sedative into the young femme's systems. Slowly, her green optics faded and, soon, they were dark and her chassis went limp against the three who had caught her.

The four of us stood there for a nano-click and stared at the femme. This was a triple changer. This…was what the council was willing to offline bots for to possess. Even though I knew that the Decepticons were monsters, I realized that the Autobots had garnered sins of their own from this war and I knew that…one solar cycle, they were going to come back to bite us.

"What…are we supposed to do now?" One of them asked. I realized at that point that they were much younger than I was. They must have been just out of boot camp. The council probably knew that if they had a team of more bots like myself…that they wouldn't follow through with the mission. I didn't want to follow through but, by the time I was told the full details of the mission…it was too late.

Letting out a huff, I stepped forward and took the femme from them. She was lighter than I thought she would be and that just shot another bought of pain through my spark. This wasn't right. But, to answer the young bot's question. "We head back to base camp. When she wakes up…I'll try and explain this to her. She is so young…possibly even a sparkling…and she will be terrified when she wakes up."

Then, before any of them could say a word, I walked away with the femme. This…this was horrible. How was I going to explain to this femme that she was never going to see her family again and she was going to have to live with the Autobots from now on…those that did this to her.

Shaking my helm, I walked on in silence as the wind brushed past my chassis. I had been in so many battles…seen so many bots fall that I had lost count. I had stared up in the face of death multiple times for this cause that I believe in…that I believed in. But now, as I walked toward the camp with the triple changer femme in my arms…only one thought could come to my processor.

…What had we done?

 **Ultra Prime's 1** **st** **P.O.V.**

I paced in the meeting chambers of Fortress Maximus. Normally, I would be out on the outskirts of the fighting leading my team against the Decepticons. But, that was not what I currently found myself doing. In the early cycles of this solar cycle, Viral Magnus had contacted me via private message and requested that I come here for a one on one meeting. He didn't say much on what the meeting was to be about except for the fact that it had something to do with one of the most recent recruitment missions.

But I found my processor racing. What could have happened during a recruitment mission that would cause Viral Magnus to personally ask me to come and meet with him? Recruitment missions were normally be with older younglings to younger adults and, once they were recruited, the new Autobot would be taken to the barracks and be prepped for boot camp. Once boot camp was through, the new Autobot would then be assigned a team and work with that team to fight the Decepticons.

When the door opened, I stood at attention as a red and gray car mech walked in. Viral Magnus. While the Magnus was three meters shorten than I was…he exuded an air of presence that always made it seem like he was ten meters taller than I was. I didn't understand how it happened and, honestly, I feared and respected the mech too much to care. When Viral Magnus met with you…it was important.

The mech's orange optics were staring straight at me and I felt like I was being torn apart by that gaze. I couldn't think of anything I had done wrong but, was the message about the recruiting mission a ruse to get me alone to punish me? I really couldn't think of anything my team could have done lately to cause a meeting with the Magnus. Frag, even Wheeljack had avoided blowing himself up lately and that was a large improvement.

"Ultra Prime." I paid attention as my leader spoke to me. "Thank you for coming. I have something of the highest importance to ask of you."

…Really? What could that be? I was on the lower end of the Primes and it had never seemed likely that I would amount to anything more. But, if I was receiving a special mission from the Magnus then I had to be worth more than I thought. "What are your orders sir?"

Viral Magnus, however, shook his helm. "These are not orders, Ultra Prime, but a request that is very recommended that you accept." This was confusing but I kept quiet for now so I could hear what he had to say. "Recently, a troop of Autobots had orders to acquire three triple changer younglings for our army. They were only able to capture one and she has come to understand her place here. But, she is too young for fighting yet." Just how young was she? I knew of troops who were half way through their youngling stellar cycles and out fighting the Decepticons. "So, she needs somewhere to stay. That's where you come in. I could only entrust her protection and raising to somebot close to me that I trust. In these times…it is hard to truly know who is to be trusted and I believe you are one of the few that I can fully trust. I am asking you to please become the guardian of this femme."

Wait…I had to become guardian to some youngling? I wasn't creator material…that was why I never actively sought out a mate. I wasn't all that great with sparklings or younglings and this mission sounded impossible already. I wanted to refuse but, since this was a favor to Viral Magnus I really couldn't…no matter how much of a _choice_ he said I had.

So, with an accidental sigh escaping my lips, I folded. "Of course Viral Magnus sir. May I meet her?" I had better meet the little one that was going to be living with me.

Viral Magnus nodded, and looked almost relieved, before he spoke. "Of course. She is just outside. I'll let her come in and let you meet her personally." He then hesitated and I had a feeling that I was not going to like the hesitation. "You might want to be careful though. She…is quite stubborn."

Frag my life.

When the Magnus walked out of the room, I placed my helm into my right servo and sighed. This was not how I pictured spending my solar cycle. Now that I thought back on it…I would have preferred if one of my team mates had gotten in trouble. That could be dealt with quickly. But, having to raise a stubborn femme youngling having to stay with me was not something that I wanted to mess with.

The door reopening caused me to move my servo from my helm and I would admit that I was surprised at what I saw. The femme triple changer seemed so small that I couldn't believe it. Of course, even though she was small for a triple changer I realized that she was probably bigger than most younglings that were her age. So, I took a click to study how she was reacting. While at first her chassis seemed relaxed was slightly tensed…like she was ready to run at a moment's notice. From that reaction alone, I had a feeling that the black and lime green triple changer was not one hundred percent agreeing to her being raised by the Autobots…by me. However, I couldn't delve too deeply into how she came to be with us. My mission was to be her guardian and raise her in a correct and proper way so she would be fully accepting of the Autobot cause.

I would not fail that mission.

Once the door was closed, and it was just the two of us, I walked closer to her before introducing myself. "Hello there youngling. My designation is Ultra Prime. What is yours?"

What I was expecting was the cold look that came from the femme. It was one of anger that I would have never imagined on a bot that young. She let out a huff and continued to give me her icy glare. "That mech who just walked out…Viral what-ever-he's-called, tell you to be nice to me? If he did…I ain't buying it. I don't want to be here. This place is horrible. The only reason I am being nice is so you all will leave my brothers alone. End of story."

Well…that was definitely more blunt and to the point then I expected from her. But, I was confused by her answer. Why were the Autobots chasing her brothers? Something was adding up for me but, at the click, I had to establish trust between the femme and I and there was only one way for me to get that trust.

Holding out my servo, I smiled at her and spoke truthfully. "I was not told to be nice to you. That is just who I am. Now…are you going to introduce yourself to me? From the looks of things, you and I are going to be housemates for a while. I would hate to not know your name." I then continued to hold my servo out to her. "Please?" I added to help things.

What was surprising to me was the shocked look that appeared on her faceplate. What was so shocking about what I said? This little one was certainly acting different than any other that I had met. "Well, I guess…since I don't have any other choice." She started reluctantly. That was a relief. If we were going to get to know each other it would be nice to have her name. The femme stared at my servo hesitantly before she lightly took it and finished introducing herself. "My name…is Pandimala."

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 **Authoress: Wow...that was a lot of emotion in one chapter...and that's only the prologue.**

 **Ultra Prime: *nods* Makes me wonder what you have planned for the future chapters.**

 **Young Pandimala: *frowns* I don't care as long as you fragging Autobots keep away from my family.**

 **Ultra Prime: *frowns* Where did you hear that language?**

 **Young Pandimala: *smirks* Unlike you Autobots, _I_ don't give away my sources.**

 **Kup: *in the background* That fragging psychopathic creation of a glitch from the Pit!**

 **Authoress: *smiles widely and excitedly* I think I am being summoned! *runs off***

 **Ultra Prime: *faceplate palms* Nevermind.**

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 **AN: Well, lookie here. It's a new story for you all! Well, a rewrite really but you get the gist. Happy belated birthday again to** **Jazzilynn Hall! I hope you had a good one! I also hope this chapter met up to standards.**

 **As for this chapter...I really am cruel aren't I? It was even worse this time around because I kept it all in first person. The first write up of this everything in this chapter had been in third person. I...I want to go cry in a corner now. But, the story must go on and next chapter...when it comes out...is going to be scary fun and I am _so_ going to enjoy writing that. *evil smirk and planning* MUHAHAHAHAHAHHAHAHAH!**

 ***coughs* Anyways...again happy belated birthday Jazzilynn Hall! Also, I hope all of you enjoyed reading this...as much as enjoyment could be had. Please leave a review even if its to say hello. I like knowing that people like this and even a hello will work. Until next time...TTYL! *runs from angry Kup***


	2. Present Affairs

**AN: I only own my OCs.**

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 **Pandimala: *growls* Great! Some more time with these fragging Autobots.**

 **Authoress: *sighs* I know Pandimala. But, this is how the story happens.**

 **Pandimala: *ponders* If I kill you, then there won't be a story and I won't have to deal with them.**

 **Authoress: *already half way across the universe***

 **Pandimala: *growls* Get back here you glitch! *chases***

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Ch. 1: Present Affairs

 **Ultra Magnus' 1** **st** **P.O.V.**

So many stellar cycles had passed since I met the femme in front of me this solar cycle that I had lost count. The young triple changer that had been placed into my care by the late Viral Magnus was a challenge to raise. Even though I thought her introduction to me had softened her anger that seemed to be present since the click that I had laid optics on her, I found out that it had only been temporarily hesitated. Raising Pandimala into an Autobot was like trying to raise a scraplet to live off of organic material.

…It was impossible.

The first time that I had truly realized this fact was when we were trying to get her into pre-boot camp right after I became Magnus after Megatron offlined Viral. She would spend the night with other Autobots that would be on her boot camp team. I had personally done the pre-boot camp back when I was first starting out and it had allowed me to make many connections that helped me get to where I was today. Plus, I had made my first team, after I became Prime, out of most of my boot camp troop and all of my pre-boot camp friends had been on that team. I knew that it would be a great experience for the femme.

She responded by setting her berth on fire.

While she did eventually cooperate with the boot camp and made some friends, Pandimala was so anti-social and down-right insubordinate to the point where no team out fighting the Decepticons would accept her.

So, that brought me to the current situation before me. I was the leader of the Autobots and, as such, I should be able to keep myself composed during this kind of situation. However, that was not the case as a small sigh escaped my vocals.

It had been about three solar cycles since Optimus Prime's return from Earth with the captive Megatron and, while the Prime and his team were going to be returning to Earth in three solar cycles, I still had to deal with multiple issues.

The first being, obviously, that due to the capture of their leader, the Decepticon forces all across the universes were in arms and fighting twice as fiercely. While we couldn't afford to have Optimus Prime's team leave Earth for extended periods of time, due to the connection to the outer reaches of our influence that gave us, Autobot forces were spread extremely thing to fight the arisen Decepticon cause. They wanted their leader returned and seemed to be fighting with all of their might to get him back.

This fighting had, unfortunately brought along my second major issue that I was dealing with. Due to the major increase in Decepticon activity, the council and I had to increase the draft even higher than what it was. This, of course, angered many Cybertronians and we were constantly fighting with draft dodgers to fight with our cause. These dodgers were getting smarter, though, and there were even some among the trained nonmilitary here on Cybertron that were helping them in organized groups.

And it was those groups that brought along my last, and more personal, major issue of the solar cycle; Pandimala. Since helping draft dodgers was something that was against the council then of course Pandimala was on the front lines. Over the ten stellar cycles since we first increased the draft, before the capture of Megatron, Pandimala had been helping dodgers. Out of those ten stellar cycles, she had spent a total time of about five stellar cycles in the stockades.

I was pretty sure that the guards and she were actually friends by this point.

With that, I brought my attention to the femme in front of me, who not so coincidentally, was in stasis cuffs as she waited for the charges to be read to her. Honestly, she looked almost as bored of this as I was. Of course, I knew that boredom wouldn't stop her from helping the draft dodgers…or just appearing on trial period. If it would, then she would have given up on this after the first few times she was incarcerated.

"Autobot Pandimala," Councilmech Dragstrip started with a bored tone in his vocals. Pandimala sent the council a glare as he began. "you have been accused of the following crimes." He was probably bored because, if this time was like the hundreds of other times she had been brought before us, she was going to be charged with the same crimes. Hearing the same charges over and over again would be annoying to anybot who heard them.

Dragstrip then motioned to Councilmech Alpha Trion to take over. In turn, Alpha Trion turned on a data pad before beginning. "Aiding a bot in avoiding the draft. Resisting arrest. Five accounts of assault and battery on officers of the law." Well, the number of officers she attacked this time was less than normal. That was a good start…I guess. "Obstruction of justice when you stalled officers in arresting your co-conspirators. Making a threat of physical injury against your arresting officers. Conspiracy to aid a bot in avoiding the draft. Disturbing the peace. And finally, contempt of court."

Wait…how did she already get contempt of court added on her charges? Either the council was adding it on automatically since that charge was always added on during these proceedings or Pandimala had said something about the council when they were bringing her to her hearing. That would have been a very likely situation.

"I have nothing _but_ contempt for this court." Pandimala snarled at us and I was surprised when her glare that she was directing toward the council intensified. I didn't think that she could increase it any more than she already was.

…And of course her response told me that this was going to be a long solar cycle…a _very_ long solar cycle.

This outburst, of course, ruffled a few of the council's plating…though she said it almost every single time she was brought in and that charge was added, and Councilfemme Setback stood. "The accused shall only respond to the questions as they are given to her or she shall face the addition of more charges." Setback was glaring at Pandimala by this point before she continued speaking. "How does the defendant plea?"

Of course, she was going to plea guilty. She always did when the council charged her. "Innocent."

Wait…what?

That calm response of Pandimala's stunned the council as well and Alpha Trion leaned forward and spoke to her. "Can the defendant explain why she believes that she is innocent of the charges?"

When the glare that Pandimala was known for giving the council returned, I knew that none of us were going to like the answer. "Simple. You charged the 'Autobot' Pandimala of the charges that you have set before me. Since I am not the 'Autobot' Pandimala, then I can honestly say that I am innocent of these wonderful charges."

The council stared at her and I had to resist the urge to faceplate palm. Of course it was something this simple. Even though the Autobot insignia was emblazoned in the center of her chestplate, Pandimala had never actually accepted being an Autobot and always thought of herself as neutral. Technically, she was correct. But, with the Autobot insignia on her chassis, then she was liable to be tried by the council. This was the first time, however, that the council had actually addressed her as 'Autobot' Pandimala.

While I could see that over half of the council wanted to throw Pandimala into a smelting pit for saying that, Alpha Trion nodded and corrected Dragstrip's statement. "Very well then. The before mentioned charges on the 'Autobot' Pandimala are henceforth placed upon the defendant Pandimala. Now, how does the defendant plea?" While their 'friendship' had been a surprise to me, I had recently learned that Pandimala actually tolerated Alpha Trion and the Councilfemme Botanica enough to call them friends. So, in cases like the phrasing of Pandimala's title, or lack thereof, Alpha Trion and Botanica would usually allow her that.

A sarcastic laugh then left Pandimala before she gave her usual verdict. "Well, with the system you corrupt fools have, I guess that I would have to proclaim that I am happily guilty." Well, she was in a worse mood than normal. Normally she would just say that she was guilty. But, now she was taking shots at the governing structure of the Autobots.

I could see that her response annoyed some of the council, though most of them just looked bored, before Councilmech Burnout spoke. "Since the defendant has plead guilty to the charges before her, then all that is left for us to do is to decide her sentence."

Pandimala's last sentence had been for fifty solar cycles in the stockades and she had just been released fourteen solar cycles ago. Now, she was back already and I had a feeling that she was going to be in the stockades for even longer this time. I could see it go up to seventy solar cycles this time. But, with how Pandimala was antagonizing the council this solar cycle, I couldn't be sure on anything. I was curious, however, as to what got her in her bad mood in the first place.

Councilmech Ransack then stood and looked to the rest of us before speaking. "I move that the criminal Pandimala," Right, calling her the 'criminal Pandimala' was just going to boost her ego even more. She thrived living as the enemy of the council on Cybertron. "serve her sentence for a total of seven solar cycles," That…was it? Was Ransack overcharged right now? He usually pushed for harsher, "in Trypticon Prison."

…Never mind.

Trypticon Prison?! I had thought that they might change the amount of time Pandimala would spend in the stockades. But, to send her to Trypticon Prison…it seemed like an extreme measure to go to. Most of the criminals sent there were charged with major crimes like murder and bot-napping, or they were Decepticons. Even right now, most of the Decepticon leadership…including Megatron, were being held on level four. However, since I was so close to Pandimala because I raised her…or tried to anyways, I couldn't vocalize my opinion because it might look like I was showing favoritism. While I didn't agree, I had to show my support to the council at this time.

Thankfully, I wasn't the only one who thought that this was extreme. "Ranscak," Councilfemme Chromia started, "isn't taking her to Trypticon Prison a little extreme for the charges? Wouldn't…let's say…eighty solar cycles in the stockades be a more reasonable sentence?"

Well, she had boosted my own guess up to eighty. Of course, even one hundred solar cycles in the stockades were better than seven in Trypticon Prison. I was really hoping that the council would see this as a better option then Trypticon Prison. While Pandimala had fought me when I was trying to raise her, I still cared for her and it would be hard to send her to Trypticon Prison.

"No." Councilmech Crumplezone interjected. Well, I had a feeling that I wasn't going to get a choice in this matter. "The criminal before us has spent numerous sentences in the stockades and yet she continues to commit the same crimes over and over again without a hint of remorse. Serious action must be taken or she will continue these crimes and the citizens of Cybertron will think that we, the Council, are not taking the situation as seriously as we should be."

Unfortunately, when I glanced around the room, I could see a look of acceptance on every faceplate of the council members. Even Alpha Trion and Botania were showing acceptance to this and…honestly, I understood the sentence as well. Pandimala, as much as I cared for her, had been sentenced of the same crimes numerous times and something big needed to happen to make her see that her rebellious nature toward the Autobots was wrong.

Once more looking around, I saw the acceptance that I had glanced before affirm itself on the faceplates of all the council and so I knew that this was going to be their sentence against her. So, I stood up. "Has the Council reached a verdict for Pandimala's, the accused's, sentence?"

They all nodded and Botanica stood to respond to me. "Yes we have Ultra Magnus. We the Council hereby sentence the triple changer femme Pandimala, the defendant, to seven solar cycles in Trypticon Prison." She then motioned to the guards that had escorted Pandimala in for her hearing. "Guards, escort the prisoner there immediately. She is to be placed on the fifth floor of the prison to serve out her sentence."

The fifth floor was a rarely used floor and was usually used for overflow when we had an uptick in crime. I was grateful to Botanica for putting her there. The Decepticons in the building would not be able to try and attack her since she would basically have the floor to herself. From the records I possessed, there were no other prisoners currently on that level.

As the council went to dismiss for the solar cycle and the guards came up to Pandimala, I looked to her in hopes of seeing worry or panic in her optics at the prospect of going to Trypticon Prison. If I saw that, then I knew that this might help her become more accepting of the Autobot cause. Maybe it might even cause her to stop her criminal actions. I only wanted her to go through this sort of trauma once.

However, the look on Pandimala's faceplate was one of stubborn anger that I had seen countless times before through her existence. She was not going to back down easily, unfortunately. I just had to hope that, by the end of her sentence, that the anger I saw would lessen. I would never expect it to leave her completely and I would never ask her to let it. While I had originally tried not to learn how Pandimala had come into my care, my curiosity eventually got the better of me…once Viral Magnus had joined the Well, and Pandimala had told me of the attack on her family and the deaths of her creators at Autobot servos.

I doubted that this was a sanctioned order but Viral Magnus probably had to cover for the Autobot cause so he had covered it up while placing her in my care. That was the only explanation that I could conceive for the events that led up to my caretaking of Pandimala. However, even the offlining of her creators by rogue Autobots was not enough reason for her to show the levels of anger that she constantly did. Since Pandimala had never told me anything else about how she came to be in my care, then I had to assume that her anger was misplaced and, hopefully, her time in Trypticon Prison would remove the unneeded anger.

As the doors closed behind Pandimala, I suddenly felt myself becoming worried. While we were sending the triple changer to Trypticon Prison to straighten her out, I now realized that it could have the opposite effect on her. If going to the prison didn't show Pandimala that she needed to med her ways, then I feared that she might come out of this sentence even more angered at the Autobots than she already was. That was something that seemed impossible but, given that this was Pandimala…anything could happen.

 **Sari's 1** **st** **P.O.V.**

I laughed with Bumblebee as he showed me around Cybertron. While we were going home in a few days, I wanted to see as much of Cybertron that I could so I could understand the stories that the bots told better. The two of us were just leaving the old training grounds that Bumblebee had been in boot camp in with Bulkhead. I was still surprised that Sentinel was their drill sergeant. He didn't seem capable of doing anything right and I was just glad that students didn't turn out like teachers. Then, Bumblebee and Bulkhead would be horrible.

"Yeah! And then the building fell right on Sentinel!" Bumblebee laughed out as we walked down the busy road.

It was unnerving, however, to have bots turning to stare at us wherever we went. While I knew that it was probably going to happen…it was still a little weird. Bumblebee had loved it for the first day that we were here but even he was getting annoyed with it now. Guess there was something as too much attention. Even now, I glanced behind us and saw a group of bots following behind us. They were 'trying' to be sneaky, and I was sure that they hadn't even noticed that I had seen them yet, and I could see that they were taking pictures.

"Hey 'Bee, do you know somewhere we can go that's not so…stalkerish?" I asked 'Bee as we turned a corner.

Bumblebee looked behind us and slightly frowned when he saw the group of bots try to hide in the crowd…and they weren't doing a very good job at it as it was. "No. A lot of these groups know where we are staying so we can't go back right now, and all the good public places are just magnets for them. We'll have to just suffer through it for now." Bumblebee didn't sound nearly as accepting of that as he sounded. From how he sounded, I knew that he wanted to just run and not look back. But, there wasn't enough room on the streets here for him to transform and drive quickly.

We turned another corner and I had to hold on for my life as Bumblebee bumped into a light blue car mech with turquoise colored optics. I felt Bumblebee tense, like I did, as the bot seemed to study the two of us. What was surprising, though was that the bot didn't seem to be going all fanbot like the groupies behind us would have. "Sorry about that. The name's Radar. Are you two alright?" He looked concerned and I was glad that he had noticed me. Usually Bumblebee had to point me out when we met a bot and then I was noticed.

Bumblebee nodded at his question. "Yeah, we're just fine. I'm Bumblebee." I noticed that 'Bee seemed to be trying to think of something.

"And I'm Sari." I introduced myself to the mech who seemed to be acting like a normal bot.

He smiled and nodded. "I figured that's who you two were. There aren't many here on Cybertron who don't know who Optimus' team is. I remember when the mech was still in boot camp. Now that was one strange boot camp group."

Wait…this bot knew Optimus when he was Bumblebee's age? "You know Boss Bot?" Bumblebee asked the bot in surprise. I was surprised too. I didn't know many bots outside our team and here was some random bot who seemed to know Optimus.

But, I was confused when Radar shook his helm. "Well, I didn't know Optimus as well as I knew a good number of his boot camp group and so I met Optimus a couple of times." Well, that was more believable and I was going to say something when Radar continued. "Actually, now that I think about it, most of that group went on to be pretty important." He then shook his helm. "So, what are you two doing out here? I figured that you would be relaxing from the battle you all had on Earth." Guess everybot knew about that.

Strange thing was, we almost lost Prowl. He and Jazz had been collecting Allspark fragments using processor over matter and Prowl almost went into too deep of a trance and was about to merge his spark with the Allspark. Thankfully, Jazz was able to bring him back to his senses and we were able to leave the battle without any losses. But that had been a really close call.

Bumblebee motioned behind us toward the group of bots that were 'trying' to stay hidden from us before he said, "We've been trying to find somewhere that I can show Sari, since this is her first time on world, but we can't seem to shake them."

Radar looked behind us before a look of understanding seemed to come to his face. "Ah." He then seemed to think for a click before saying, "Normally I would offer my place to you both to relax at but business has boomed over the past couple of solar cycles due to the celebrations of Megatron being captured."

I had to hold on as Bumblebee snapped his digits and pointed toward Radar. "That's where I know you! You own Radar's Sturdy Blade!" I looked at Bumblebee in confusion but, thankfully, my friend explained what that was. "Radar's Sturdy Blade is a really popular restaurant. It has really good energon crystals."

I stared at the bot in front of us, who didn't look that much older than Optimus, as Radar laughed. "Yeah that's me. I wouldn't be where I am this solar cycle without the help of many friends who I can never repay." He then got a far off look in his optics, a look that I sometimes saw on Ratchet, before he shook his helm and said, "But, there is another place I know if you don't mind a little drive? It's on the outskirts of Iacon and not many bots go out there to drink. You ever hear of Slapjack's?"

'Bee nodded, though not with as much recognition, before saying, "Yeah. Optimus mentioned it a couple times during one of our space bridge repair trips. Used to be pretty popular with bots at the Academy but doesn't get a lot of business lately. They say that the barkeeper is a psycho."

Radar let out a laugh at Bumblebee's answer. "Nah, Slapjack isn't a psycho. He's just doesn't take scrap from young bots who think that they know better than he does. Now, if you can behave, head over there and say that I recommended that you go there. Should get you a discount on your first drinks at least." Radar then motioned behind us. "I'll take care of your stalkers. Get going." Wow, that was a nice bot!

Bumblebee looked excited and nodded before he transformed and Radar ran toward the group while yelling, "Guess what?! I just heard that some of Optimus' team was heading toward Maccadams! I'm going to get the best pictures of them!" As we turned the corner, I saw that Radar stood there while the groupies that were following us made a beeline toward whatever 'Maccadams' was.

Of course, we were going someplace called 'Slapjacks' so I really couldn't say anything. I wonder what this place was going to be like. From what Bumblebee was saying, this place used to be popular but wasn't that much anymore. What was wrong with the place? "Hey 'Bee? What do you know about the place we are going?"

Bumblebee made a few sharp turns as he sped down the road before saying, "Not much Sari. Like I said earlier, Optimus went there when he was in boot camp and it used to be popular. From the rumors that I heard from other bots, they say that really famous bots would go there to get a drink and relax if they didn't want bots to pester them."

If that was true, then it made sense why Radar would suggest it. "Guess it's a good thing that bot, Radar, suggested it."

We drove for a few more minutes before Bumblebee stopped and opened his door for me to get out. Once I was, he transformed and picked me up before turning to stare at, what looked like to me, an apartment complex. "Well, this is the place according to the GPS."

Really? "It looks more like an apartment complex than a bar." I commented as Bumblebee walked up to the multi-story place.

He shrugged and reached for the door. "Well, guess that would keep bots who didn't know about the place away so famous bots could come here for a drink." He guessed before he opened the door.

 **Bumblebee's 1** **st** **P.O.V.**

I was surprised when I walked into the bar, Sari in my servo. Honestly, I had been expecting a place sort of like Maccadams but with less bots in it. But, this place was really clean…almost like med bay spotless, and the place was empty. Was this bar even open? When that bot Radar had suggested that we come here, I had been kinda curious about this place. When Optimus did talk about his times coming here, he always looked like he had a good time here.

"Hey Slap! We got some customers!" A femme voice coming from my right caused me to jump and I was surprised that a lavender colored racecar femme, who was not that much taller than I was, walked up to us with a smile on her face. She looked…wow. She stopped in front of us and nodded, her smile never leaving her faceplate. "Howdy there bots and welcome to Slapjacks. My designation is Lavana and I wanted to welcome you." She then motioned to the bar. "Would you both like to get a seat?"

I nodded, not able to get a word to come out of my vocals, and thankfully Sari came to my rescue. "Thanks that sounds nice."

Lavana nodded and motioned for us to follow her, thankfully I did without looking like a complete idiot. She then set us at a seat on at the bar before she went behind it and handed us a menu. "Slap will be out in a few clicks. We just got our order in and he likes to put everything away himself. Everything on the menu are house favorites, and originals, but if you would like something else we should be able to make it." She then looked at Sari before looking back at me. "Would your friend like a seat set on the counter for her? I think we have some storage crates in back that I can bend into a chair if she would like?"

Wow! Friendly service, a nice femme, and she even was concerned for Sari's comfort level. "Sure that would be great!" I finally was able to answer her. This place was pretty good! Wonder why it was so empty now? Before I could ask Lavana, she walked back into the kitchen, where some crashes were heard. "So 'Bee…going to ask her for her number?"

I jumped and looked down at Sari with wide optics. "Wh…What are you talking about Sari?" She couldn't be thinking what I think she was…was she?

Sari let out a laugh and looked at the menu. "Come on 'Bee. I may be a techno-organic in disguise but I can already tell that you are interested in her. So go on and ask for her number!"

But, I wasn't getting into that. I wasn't sure why this place was empty and maybe it was because Lavana's sire owned the place and he killed anybot who looked at her wrong. Nope. Not going to even risk it until we knew more about this place.

Thankfully, I didn't have to answer as Lavana walked out with a small crate that looked bent into a seat and a smaller one that looked like a table. This place really was awesome and, while I didn't want to ask for her number…yet, I did want to ask about this place. "Here you go. Hope it's comfortable. I couldn't find the welder for the spark of me and Slapjack is too zoned out in organizing his supplies." She then leaned closer, causing me to blush slightly, before she said, "I think he's got a weird fetish for organizing things." Thankfully for my growing blush, she straightened back up and motioned to the menus. "So, you two figure out what you want yet?"

I shook my helm and she let out a laugh as Sari got into her seat. "Sorry. It all looks amazing and I don't know what to pick." I then motioned around the bar. "I'm surprised more bots don't come here. Seems like this place is pretty great."

Something I said must have thrown her because her smile fell into a sad frown before she said, "It's not the bar's fault that bots don't come."

"Yes, that would be the work of that fragging council."

I jumped and turned to my right as a purple heavy duty mech with brown markings walked in from a door that I didn't even notice. He had a scar across his faceplate and his dark blue optics were studying us.

But, while he seemed scary, I wanted to know what he meant. "What do you mean?"

However, he didn't answer and walked behind the counter before saying, "Before that, what would you and your techno-organic friend there like to drink?"

Both Sari and I jumped when he asked that. Sari was in full bot mode and we were trying to keep the fact that she was part organic on the down low…like no one outside of our little group should know if they don't already. How did this barkeeper figure it out? "How'd you know I was a techno-organic?" Sari asked him as she sat back down and opened her battle mask, showing her organic face.

The mech let out a laugh at her question and turned to make some drinks before saying, "Younglings, I've been to some planets that would make your jawplates come unhinged. Organic planets that had buildings that towered over our own and I've met quite a few techno-organics myself." He then ground some platinum flakes for a few nano-clicks before he sighed. "The stories that I could tell you would spin your helm clean off."

The barkeeper, who I realized we didn't have a designation for, reached for a lever and put a lighter purple energon into a tall thin cube and garnished it with a ten-pointed star titanium decoration before he set it in front of me and poured the left over energon and platinum flakes into a blender and reduced the mixture, making a pinkish color like energon, before he reached under his bar and grabbed a strange green organic fruit. What was he doing? I could only watch as he opened the green fruit…a lime! That was what it was. Anyways, he added the juice from it to the energon he just reduced and poured the concoction into a small thin cube before garnishing it with a slice of the lime and handing it down to Sari.

Lavana, thankfully, saw my worried look and shook her helm. "Don't worry. Slapjack isn't the poisoning type. We have our regulars to respect and they would offline Slap here if he put something dangerous into a customer's drink."

I felt better when the barkeeper, who I just realized was the owner Slapjack, laughed and nodded. "Oh, they would torture my spark until the last little flickering of life was extinguished."

Of course, that made me wonder what sort of regulars they had. Before I could ask on them, however, Sari picked up her glass and I watched as she took a drink. After the first sip, Sari paused and I was worried. But, it seemed like it wasn't a serious pause because she glanced back down at the energon with wide optics and a smile before she took a larger drink. "Wow that's amazing!" Sari exclaimed as she looked down at the drink.

Since Sari wasn't dying from drinking Slapjack's drink, I didn't hesitate and took a drink out of mine. My own optics widened when the taste of the energon touched my glossa. It was…amazing. "What kind of energon is this?" I asked as I glanced down at the cube. While I knew that the platinum flakes he put in my energon had helped the flavor, even I could tell that this wasn't your ordinary high grade.

Slapjack seemed to study the both of us before seeming to come to a decision. "Well, I guess I can let you know. Just don't be giving away my secrets." He then leaned closer to both of us before he said, "I have a neutral supplier who ships me in pure energon straight from Tretkar 4. Their energon is not only natural, but their ground has no pollutants that could contaminate the energon and that gives the energon a richer taste. This stuff isn't cheap but my sponsors make an exception for me." His look then grew worried and he looked around the bar before saying, "Of course, I'm not sure how much longer I'm going to be able to stay open, even with the help of my sponsors, if the council doesn't let up."

That reminded me of my question and so I asked it again. "What did you mean earlier when you said that it was the council's fault that you don't have any customers?"

The owner looked between the two of us again and studied us before looking to Lavana. She in turn hesitated and glanced back at me before she returned her attention to Slapjack. "Go ahead Slap. From what I've heard of Optimus' team, and what I've seen out of these two this solar cycle, they can be trusted."

It was her word that caused him to nod before both of them pulled up chairs behind the bar so they were sitting right in front of us. "It has to do with those regulars that I've been mentioning."

"Is Radar one of them?" Sari asked. They both looked surprised at her and, I just realized that we forgot to say his name to Slapjack when we got in here.

"Well," Lavana started as she seemed to study Sari even more now. "he's not one of the regulars that we are talking about now but he is actually a really good friend. Why?"

"Because he was the one that recommended that we come here." I answered her with a smile. "He said to mention his name to you and that he suggested that we come here. But, I honestly forgot to when we came in." And I couldn't keep my optics off of Lavana. Of course, I kept that to myself.

What we weren't ready for was Slapjack's booming laughter. "I wish you would have said something about that sooner young bot!" He then continued to laugh before he said, "If Radar suggested that you come here, especially with what I am about to tell you is going on with the council, then you have to be trustworthy. I've known Radar for stellar cycles and he has this uncanny ability to know what a bot is like after only talking a few sentences with them." Slapjack then got serious again. "To understand what is going on with the council, I have to ask…do you know who the Guardians are?"

While I knew Sari wouldn't know anything about them, I figured I could tell her a brief summary about them and show that I knew about them at the same time. "Well yeah! They are the most exclusive group of warriors in the Autobot forces. They say that their leader, Hinge, servo-picked each member of the Guardians that have been accepted into their ranks. Before we went missing fifty stellar cycles ago, there were a total of five Guardians and their names are Hinge, Blackbit, Chem, Hindsight, Foresight, and Tana…who is the only femme Guardian from last I heard."

Slapjack looked impressed at what I said before he nodded. "Yes you are mostly right." Mostly? What did I miss? "While you were missing for fifty stellar cycles after being lost defending the Allspark from Megatron, the Guardians accepted two new members. One is a two-wheeler mech named Alphego who can make clones of himself and the other is a two-wheeler femme named Shrike. She has a large assortment of weapons and can use them with deadly accuracy." He then paused and looked to be thinking. "Honestly, the tension between the Guardians and the Council has been around since…well…since Hinge started the group to be honest. They've been at each other's necks for hundreds of stellar cycles…before the first war even started."

"Really?" I asked in surprise. When I had seen them on our vid screens growing up, the council and the Guardians seemed so friendly.

"Don't let the vid screens fool you young mech." Slapjack stated. "There was a small break in the tension during the Great War but after the Decepticons were forced off the planet, that tension actually got worse. Recently, the Guardians have been hounded by the council to be put under their command. But, the Guardians haven't backed down. They were started specifically to be a group of warriors outside of the Council's control and that is the way Hinge will keep them. But…that has come at a price." Slapjack then motioned to the virtually empty bar before saying, "The Council has been throwing its weight around and have made it known that coming here would not be beneficial to a bot's social standing. Since most bots care solely about how they will rise in the ranks, and not how, they have abandoned this place. But, the Guardians have been extremely helpful in helping me stay afloat during this. I owe them more than I can ever repay them."

Wow…that was a big problem. The Council had a lot of sway in how social standings work on Cybertron and if you ended up on their bad side, then you were going to lose business. Frag, from what Ratchet told me, they were able to allow Sentinel to temporarily close Maccadams…and that place is a historic place for drinking.

"Bumblebee…Sari…" Lavana started as she motioned to the both of us. I was worried when I saw that she looked hesitant. "after your drinks, we have a back way we can sneak you out if you don't want the Council coming after you."

That was what she was worried about? "Ah, don't worry about us! We don't care and you all are nice!" Sari said in a calming way.

I nodded my agreement quickly. "Yeah, plus the Council is full of glitch helms…who really don't like us anyways. You should have seen them squirming when they had to recognize our team for taking down Megatron and his top lieutenants! They looked like a bot in a scraplet nest!"

We all laughed at that, with Slapjack laughing the hardest, before he said, "You know what? For young bots you two are alright. The drinks are on the house for the night. Anybot who is against the council is a friend of mine."

"Thanks Slapjack!" Sari thanked him before taking another drink of her energon mix.

In return, Slapjack shook his helm. "Nah, see here you two. My friends call me Slap…and that's what you are now. You ever need anything and you come see me. Both of you." He then seemed about to say something else when he suddenly straightened. Since he wasn't saying anything, I had a feeling that he was talking over private message. Wonder who it…

"Lavana, get to the kitchen. She's coming and she isn't in the best of moods." Slap said to Lavana, who nodded in understanding and ran into the kitchen.

"Um…" Sari started in confusion. Of course, I was confused as well. Just who the frag was coming? "what's going on?"

Slap looked between the two of us before he sighed and said, "Well, looks like you two are getting most of my secrets this solar cycle. That was Hinge contacting me." Wow! He had the private message number for the leader of the Guardians! That was awesome! "Seems like the council's done something to Tana and she is fuming about it and she's coming over here to relax. Most of them do when they are upset by something." He paused before shaking his helm. "Anyways, what even the council doesn't know is that there is a passage way that leads from my kitchen directly to Guardian HQ. Hinge had it constructed during the war in case there was an attack and he wanted us to evacuate into their HQ for our protection. Now that the war is over, though, they use it to avoid the crowds in the street when they want to get over here ASAP."

We all jumped when a slam was heard and a mass of banging was heard in the kitchen. I never met Tana before but, from what I heard, she had a real short temper when it came to certain things, though no bot I met knew what those things were, and Sari and I were about to witness this anger first-servo. I was kinda nervous for Sari's safety. She didn't realize that an angry Guardian was not something you wanted to be the center of attention of.

From the rumors I heard, most bots would rather be on the front lines against the Decepticons than be near an angry Guardian.

"Calm down Tana. We have customers and I really don't want you scaring them off. You can stay angry but please put away the flail. You look kinda scary with it out to bots who don't know you." I could hear Lavana say in a comforting voice.

…Um…did she just say a flail?

Sari and I both jumped when the door to the kitchen burst open and, following Lavana, was a silver armored vehicle femme with black stars on her shoulders. I shivered when I saw angered look in her light blue optics. That was a really scary look.

Of course her growled sentence that followed didn't help make her an less scary.

"Those fraggers on the council will pay for this!"

* * *

 **Bumblebee: *nervous* Um...is it safe for us to be here at Slap's now?**

 **Slapjack: *nods* There's nothing to worry about Bumblebee. Tana is just a little temperamental. She usually calms down quickly.**

 **Tana: *screams* Their energon will flow through the streets of Iacon if I get my servos on them! *paces around in anger***

 **Authoress: *gulps* Yeah...right.**

 **Sari: *nervous* Should I move to higher ground? Like space?**

 **Lavana: *conflicted* Well...maybe not that high but we should probably get you off the bar.**

* * *

 **AN: And here is the next chapter to this story! I hope you all liked it! Seems like Pandimala is a wild femme who doesn't change to please others. I bet Ultra Magnus wishes that she would though. XD And then we have this new scene with Bumblebee. Just what is going on with this and what has the council done to get Tana worked up into such a frenzy? That should be answered next chapter but who really knows? I'm going to be changing things from my original notes so even I don't know how next chapter is going to turn out. So, just hang in there with me and we will get through this together!**

 **Well, that's all I have to say for now. Any flames I receive will be used to kill one random Cybertronian. So, I would advise you to not send them. Please leave a review though, even if it is to say hi. I love bringing in more minio...friends. That was definitely what I was going to say. I want more friends. Well, that's all for now. TTYL! *watches Tana nervously***


	3. How Things Change

**Disclaimer: I only own my OCs.**

* * *

 **Authoress: Well...let's have some fun!**

 **Sari: *gulps* You can say that because you are protected. We are in front of a really mad femme.**

 **Bumblebee: *nods* Yeah, and not just any mad femme...but a made Guardian to boot! *shivers* You are really evil.**

 **Authoress: *shrugs* It's a gift. *smiles***

* * *

Ch. 2: How Things Change

 **Sari's 1** **st** **P.O.V.**

I gulped as I stared at the femme that had just entered from the kitchen. She was taller than most of the bots in here, and the same height as Slapjack, and she looked mad. Like really mad. Slap had said something about these Guardians, who I wanted to know more about, and the Council being at each other's necks for hundreds of stellar cycles, which Prowl had told me before that was their years, which were the same as ours. Guess this was an example of it…and I was not exactly feeling safe.

"Tana, you need to calm down now." Slap almost ordered this Tana in a serious voice.

She glanced over to him, the same angered look in her optics, and the two of them held optic contact for a few minutes before Tana finally seemed to calm down. While she was, Slap motioned to Lavana toward the seating area and Lavana must have done something like this in the past. She jumped the bar and moved to grab a stool before running back behind the bar and set it in front of where we were sitting and in between Slap and herself.

Finally, this Tana bot seemed calmed down and let Slap guide her to a seat before she sat down in front of us. Almost as soon as she did though, 'Bee and I both jumped as her look snapped to us and she seemed to study us. "You two. Who are you?" Well, she was pretty blunt. But, I had a feeling that might be because of her bad mood. Of course, I didn't know her and this may just be how she was.

I gulped before motioning to myself. "My…my name's Sari ma'am."

Since I had introduced myself, I was sure 'Bee was feeling like he didn't have a choice but to introduced himself. "And I'm Bumblebee." He looked really nervous when he said that and I had a feeling that I wasn't being nervous enough. I didn't know exactly what these Guardians were about but Bumblebee did.

The femme in front of us continued to give us hard studying looks. It was really scary and I felt like I was being torn apart just by her look. What was going to happen to us if she decided she didn't like us? I was small and she looked like she could crush me pretty easy. Maybe coming here wasn't such a good…

Thwack!

My eye…optics widened when Slap head slapped Tana. Even I had a notion that doing that was like signing his death wish. We were all frozen there as Tana's optics were wide, Bumblebee looked like he was going to have spark failure, Lavana just looked stunned, and I had a feeling that I was looking like Bumblebee was. But, Slap just looked like he was annoyed as he looked at Tana.

Slowly, Tana turned her helm toward Slap but, to his credit, he didn't flinch. "Now see here femme. You need to stop scaring these two. Do you think that I would have let them stay when Hinge contacted me telling me that you were coming if I _didn't_ trust them?" He put his servos on his hips before continuing. "Plus, if it makes you feel any better Radar sent them here."

It was jarring to see the hard look on Tana's face leave when he said that Radar sent us here. Just how many bots did Radar know? The tension that was built in Tana's shoulders left and she turned to us with a smile. "Sorry you two. I can't be too careful these solar cycles." She then held out her servo to Bumblebee, "It's nice to meet you Bumblebee. I am Tana, a member of the Guardians."

Bumblebee slowly reached out and shook her servo before saying, "It's nice to…um meet you too." He was still nervous. Of course, I was too but Bumblebee was staring at his now released servo like it was a miracle that it was still attached.

Tana then turned to me and seemed to think about something before holding out her pinkie digit. "And it's nice to meet you as well Sari. If we meet another solar cycle, I think I would like to know more about you being a techno-organic."

My jaw dropped, and so did Bumblebee's as Tana said that and continued to smile. First off, this happy Tana was a lot nicer than the angry Tana that she was when she first came in. Second though, and more importantly, how did she know that I was a techno-organic? I had put back on my facemask when Slap said that another bot was coming in. Was everyone going to be able to tell that I was a techno-organic? "How did you know that I was a techno-organic?" I asked her in shock.

Tana let out a laugh, which caused me to relax even more, before she answered me. "I may not have the experience off planet like Slap here does, but I've studied texts on techno-organics and Hinge has us study to identify many kinds of species. I should be able to tell when I am in front of a techno-organic." She then motioned to the door. "Of course, I understand why you would want to keep it quiet. Sentinel has always been a little weird around new things and he boosted organic fear when Ultra Magnus…well, when he was hurt."

Wait…she knew Sentinel? "You know Major Big Chin?" Bumblebee asked in shock.

A snort of laughter came from Tana. "Cute name. Yeah, I know him. He was a part of the boot camp I was in." She then motioned to us. "Actually, it was the same boot camp that Optimus was in. That was a really exciting group."

She jumped when Slapjack, who I didn't realize had even gotten up, set a cube of energon that looked almost blue that had large metal flakes floating inside. What kind of energon was… "One deluxe high-grade combo with magnesium and manganese flakes." That must be her regular drink. She didn't even ask for it and he was putting it in front of her. "Now," Slap started after Tana took a drink. "what has caused you to be in such an off-putting mood? That's usually Blackbit's job." Blackbit was another Guardian that Bumblebee had listed off.

I flinched when Tana let out another growl, though this time she didn't glare at us which I was really grateful for, before she spoke. "It's that fragging Council. I was just out for a walk in the Sea of Rust…it's a good place to clear my processor. Anyways, I was walking there when I suddenly felt like I was being followed. So, I used my training and hid my presence in the rust particles and waited for whoever it was to walk by. Sure enough, they were members of the CIA."

"Wait…the CIA? Isn't that the Central Intelligence Agency?" I was really confused. What was a human organization doing here on Cybertron?

Tana shook her helm at that. "No but that's close. Here on Cybertron, the CIA stands for the Cybertronian Intelligence Agency. I'm not sure what your CIA does but ours likes to gather in-depth information about bots here on Cybertron and keep a record of what they find. Well, I confronted the three bots who were following me and, would you believe it?! They tried to fight me! The last one that I left conscious spilled his story to me and confirmed my suspicion that the Council had sent them to watch me. However, he also said that the Council gave them orders to attack us! I told his sorry little self that he needed to spread the word that, if any of the Guardians were attacked by the CIA again, that I would personally pay a visit to the CIA headquarters and let them have a taste of what I could do." She had growled the last part darkly and I shivered. This femme was really scary. I wasn't sure why anything would want to attack these Guardians if they were anything like Tana here.

Slap shook his helm and frowned. "The Council is getting pretty bold if they think that they can order an attack against you all. I hate to say it, but it might be due to the recent capture of Megatron and his lieutenants."

Wait…so was he saying that it was our fault that the Council attacked Tana? That was crazy! "Don't worry your helms off." Lavana spoke to us. "Slap here isn't blaming you. Megatron is a bot that, if what we've heard about his war crimes are true, needed to be brought in. We are blaming the Council for thinking that, since the leader of the Decepticons is in their captivity, that they suddenly have the right to push the Guardians around." She then let out a laugh before shaking her helm. "But, I think Tana's display this solar cycle reminded them that the Guardians are like tame Predacons…if treated nicely they are a great ally, but if you slap them around too much, they will strike back fiercely."

Tana laughed at that, which drew the rest of us into laughter, before she said, "That's the most accurate description of our relationship with the Autobot cause that I've ever heard. Hey Slap, put a drink for Lavana on my tab. Whatever she wants." She then looked to Bumblebee again. "So, do you know what your team's plan is for your stay here?"

Of course 'Bee didn't know. This was Bumblebee we were talking about here. "Sorry Tana. Just know that Sari and I have a lot more things to see before we leave. I want to let her see as much of Cybertron as I can before we have to go back to Earth."

I saw a thoughtful look cross Tana's faceplate as she looked between the two of us. "Can you bots give me a click? I've got to private message a friend."

'Bee and I looked at each other and shrugged before I answered her. "Sure. We don't have any plans for the moment."

She looked slightly confused when I ended my sentence before she nodded and stood. Then, she walked over to the far side of the bar. Wonder who she was contacting? "So 'Bee…" We both turned to Lavana as she spoke. I noticed that Slapjack looked curious too. "It's alright that I call you 'Bee right?"

'Bee, of course, looked like he was slightly blushing before he nodded. "Y…yeah sure no problem." Oh I knew that he was falling for her hard! This was really funny to watch and I was so going to be teasing him about this later.

"Thanks." She thanked him before speaking again. "Want to exchange private message numbers? It's just that…I've actually never been off-world and I bet you've seen so much out there. Like that Earth place. I know that organics aren't toxic but what's it like? One solar cycle I want to go out there and see it all. But, for now, I'm hoping that you might send pictures since the private message system is the best way to communicate off-world." She had started speaking really fast when she asked him for his private message number. "O…of course we can trade comm numbers as well."

Wait…from how she was acting…did she like 'Bee too?!

"That'd be awesome!" 'Bee exclaimed before coughing in embarrassment. "I mean, sure that sounds great." The two of them then walked to the other side of the bar to exchange numbers.

So, that just left Slapjack and me. The two of us stood there for a few seconds before looking at each other. "Did you see what I saw between those two?" I asked him.

He nodded and smirked. "Yes, and that's the first time I've ever seen Lavana interested in a bot. She normally doesn't date." He then paused. "Actually, I don't think she's ever been on a date before." Slap then motioned to Bumblebee. "And what about the speedster there?"

I shook my head. "I haven't known him for long but he's never mentioned ever dating. Plus, he's acting head over heels for her." Slap looked at me confused and I realized I was going to have to translate that description into Cybertronian words. "Um…I guess that would be helm over pedes for her?"

Slap let out a laugh at that. "Yes, that he seems to be. And Lavana there seems just as fallen for him." He then motioned to me. "You know how to exchange comm numbers and private message numbers?"

Thankfully, Ratchet had scanned me a bit more on the way to Cybertron and he explained how I could exchange numbers. "Yep! You'll be the first bot outside of my team to get it!" I was excited that I met a new bot and he seemed really nice.

So, the two of us exchanged both numbers and, right when we were finishing, Tana, Bumblebee, and Lavana were coming back over. "We're all good." Lavana commented as she motioned between 'Bee and herself.

Tana nodded as well. "So am I. When us Guardians have to come here to cool off, we have to be escorted back the long way by another member. I called Hinge, since I knew everybot else was out training, and he said he is on his way." She then smiled and, to my surprise, motioned to the two of us. "Plus, I asked Hinge if he wouldn't mind us giving you two a behind the scenes tour of Guardian HQ. He said that was fine. So, you two want a special tour of Guardian Headquarters?"

I nodded with a large smile while 'Bee's jawplate looked like it was going to hit the ground. That sounded like a lot of fun and I bet they had a lot of stuff to see. "A behind the scenes tour?" Bumblebee asked…looking like he was really in shock.

"Yes." Tana answered with a laugh. "While the normal tour only covers the main lobby, one training room, the rec room, and our business meeting room…which is where we meet with bots outside of the Guardians, your tour is also going to include most of the rest of the buildings…except for the recharge rooms. We like to at least keep our rooms private." I noticed that her optics flickered to behind us before she looked at Slapjack. "Hinge also offered for you two to come if you wanted. He wanted to talk with you both about something later anyways and it's not like your customers would mind." She smiled at that last part.

It didn't take 'Bee long to answer. "Yes of course I want to go! That's going to be so awesome!" He then turned to me. "Sari…this is a really big deal! I doubt that many bots have seen more than what their basic tour has. This is going to be so exciting!"

Smiling, I nodded. "I bet it is 'Bee! I bet the others are going to be so jealous that we get to do this!"

Slap and Lavana looked at each other and nodded before Slap spoke. "Yeah, let Hinge know that we'll come with you all. Like you pointed out, it's not like my other customers are going to give a scraplet's aft if we are gone."

"Very nice use of description there Slap."

Everyone, including me but not Tana, jumped and turned around and I was surprised to see a brown car mech stepping out of the shadows. He was about Tana's height and I could see that he had a few scars on his chassis. His medium blue optics were shining in an almost laughing sort of way.

"Frag it all to the Pit!" Slap finally got a word out to this new bot. "How many times do I have to tell you to stop scaring me like that!?"

The new bot chuckled and held up his servos. "Sorry Slap. I wanted to have some fun with you all."

Tana shook her helm and she looked like she knew this bot too. "Come on and be nice. We've got to get over to HQ so we can show these two around." Tana motioned to the two of us before continuing. "The mini-bot is called Bumblebee and the techno-organic is called Sari."

The brown mech in front of us smiled and nodded to both of us. "Nice to meet you both. If you've been vetted by all of these bots and Radar, then you can count me as a friend as well." He then motioned to himself. "I'm called Hinge, the leader of the Guardians."

 **Ratchet's 1** **st** **P.O.V.**

I growled to myself as I boarded a transit-car. For the past two cycles, I had been searching through Iacon's med center to see if I could locate my previous apprentice who was supposed to be working there. However, no bot seemed to know where she was. Honestly, I found that a little strange but I didn't have time to question the bots deeper. This was our only free solar cycle to spend on Cybertron and I wanted to meet up with my two apprentices that were online. The first I met with earlier this solar cycle. Her name was Joint and she was a little rambunctious. Fragging good at learning her trade, but a troublemaker nonetheless.

The transit-train suddenly lurched forward with a jump and I sat down in the nearly empty car. While most times, a car this empty would be a strange occurrence on Cybertron, an exception was made for where this transit was heading.

" _Welcome and thank you for choosing to ride the Cybertron Transit System. Our next stop will be Kaon. Estimated time of arrival; fifteen clicks."_ The automated voice spoke over the speakers.

Yep. With everything that was going on, I was on my way to fragging Kaon. You wouldn't think that there was much to see there…and you would be right. The town was in shambles and over sixty percent of the population was homeless and living on the streets. When First Aid, who was temporarily back on Cybertron due to a mission her team had been on, had told me that my last apprentice was traipsing around the slums of Kaon, I didn't hesitate and caught the transit I was on.

My last apprentice, like Joint, was very good at learning the trade. I would even have to say that she was slightly better at learning than Joint was. And, my last apprentice didn't get into nearly the amount of trouble that Joint did. Those had all been very good things…in my opinion. However, my last apprentice was a very shy bot and didn't do well in unfamiliar situations. That was why I was so surprised to learn that she was in Kaon. Kaon of all places! She had to have an offlining wish if she was coming here.

It felt like no time had passed when the transit-train slowed to a stop and, once it was stopped, the doors opened with a ding. " _We have arrived in Kaon. Thank you for choosing to ride the Cybertron Transit System. The next transit will arrive in fifteen clicks."_

I walked off the transit and shook my helm before making my way through the empty Kaon station and onto the streets that were full of trash and bots who lived out on them. This…this was such a polar difference from what I would experience in Iacon. There, the city-state was kept spotless and crowds of bots would be on the streets chatting with each other about the local gossip. Here, the acidic stench wafted across my senses and there were barely any bots on the streets that weren't living there. I could see their optics locking onto me and I knew that they were full of mistrust. Kaonians didn't like outsiders coming into their city-state.

That was why I had to get Balm. She was an outsider…having originally been from Polyhex, and I knew that she would have difficulties navigating through here. I just hoped that she was alright though. If she was hurt, then I would look for whoever hurt her and teach them a,

"Ratchet!"

I jumped as my designation was called out and turned to, my surprise, see my previous apprentice walking up to me with nothing wrong with her and a smile on her faceplate. Why did she look so comfortable here? "Balm! What are you doing here?"

Balm, my previous apprentice, greeted me with a hug when we were close enough before stepping back. "They needed my help here, and I wanted to help." Her faceplate then grew sad as she glanced around. "Most medics, even the ones stationed here, don't care about helping these bots how they need to be helped. These bots live in fear Ratchet…and it's not a fear of being hurt."

My optic ridge raised in confusion at her statement. "What do you mean Balm? All bots fear being hurt."

However, she shook her helm and motioned for me to follow her. As we walked, she spoke. "These bots live in fear of being completely healed." What?! That didn't make any sense. "They know that, if they are healed completely, that this will be the first place that the Council will snatch bots away from for the draft. The council would never use capable bots from higher class families for their draft…but if a bot down here looks even slightly healthy enough to fight, the Council would swoop down in here and snatch them up for the draft. Their only defense…is to be hurt."

I heard the pain in my previous apprentice's vocals and I didn't like it. Balm was always so caring toward all bots that were online and I knew that she hated any bot being in pain. But here...she had to leave them suffering because, if she didn't, then they would be dragged off into fighting the Decepticons.

Now, as I followed behind Balm to where it was she was taking me, I saw her in a new light. She had grown so much since I had last seen her fifty-two stellar cycles ago. She was much more confident than I had seen her in my time knowing her, she spoke with confidence, and she was now even more understanding of what our world was like than even I thought she would become.

"Mis…Miss Balm." Both of us turned to our left and I saw a small car mech who was colored dark blue and blue white. His silvery blue optics were looking at Balm, though they would sometimes flicker to me nervously.

Balm, in response, smiled and nodded. "Hello there Shutterfrost. Is something the matter?"

He nodded slowly and, from what I could see, he had many problems with his chassis that would be simple to repair. "Y…yes. My right wrist joint started sparking." He then held up said servo and I could see more than just the sparking wrist joint that was a problem.

However, Balm simply nodded and sat down before motioning in front of her. "Come and sit so we can get that taken care of." But, Shutterfrost kept staring at me and I could see a lot of mistrust in his optics. Balm looked between the two of us and kept her smile on her faceplate as she spoke to Shutterfrost. "He's alright Shutter. This is Ratchet…remember me telling you all about him during story time? He was my mentor and he taught me everything that I know. He's a safe bot and won't go off to the Council."

Those simple words caused the mech to smile widely and quickly sit in front of Balm so she could fix his wrist. As my apprentice worked on the youngling, I couldn't help but stare. She was right. These bots were more scared of the Council and having to fight against the Decepticons then they were about being hurt. This kind of work had to be hurting Balm to do. But, she had to if she wanted to help them at all.

Once she was done with Stutterfrost's wrist joint, they both stood up and the youngling smiled before giving Balm a hug. "Thank you Miss Balm!" He then waved bye to her before he ran into a building.

When he was out of sight, Balm let out an exhausted sigh. "That's exactly what I'm talking about Ratch. Shutterfrost has many problems with his arms and wrists but I'm only allowed to heal what he wants me to. He is of age where, if the Council would come through and find him healthy enough, they would take him away for the draft. So, he keeps his arms and wrists in that…that state." I could tell that this was affecting her greatly.

They were taking bots that young now? It seemed almost impossible but, with the uptick in Decepticon activity, then it was understandable. Even though I only had this solar cycle to myself…I wanted to help lift some of this load off of my past apprentice's shoulders…even if it was just for the solar cycle. "Balm, if you would let them know that they can trust me…I would like to help you with your runs here this solar."

Her smile grew wide and she nodded. "Thank you so much Ratchet! Then, when we're done, there's a place here in Kaon that's pretty good. It's called the Squeaky Pipe and it's owned by a bot called Stutterstep. While it's not exactly Slapjacks, it is pretty good."

I nodded and followed my apprentice to her next stop. I never thought I would see Balm of all bots down here working in Kaon with a smile on her faceplate. She was always so nervous and yet she was being so open with these bots who most others wouldn't trust at all. Something I did know was that I was going to be given many things to think over this night cycle.

* * *

 **Sari: We...we survived. That is so awesome!**

 **Bumblebee: *shakes helm* That's not the awesome part. The awesome part is that we are going to meet the leader of the Guardians; Hinge! *fanbots for Guardians***

 **Authoress: *shakes head* Bumblebee...you are funny.**

 **Lavana: *laughing* Of course he is! He's just so cu...*hesitates* Fun! He's just so much fun! *laughs nervously***

 **Slapjack: *laughs* Lavana, I was wondering where you ran off to...though I can see now why you did. *laughs***

 **Lavana: *blushes* C...Cut that out Slap!**

* * *

 **AN: And here is the next amazing chapter! I hope you all liked it! I know I did. Yes, I know that there weren't any scenes with Pandimala and her time in Trypticon yet but I couldn't skip days and leave you all on a cliffhanger on how that meeting with Tana went. Plus, if I had tried to make it happen this chapter, you wouldn't have nearly gotten the experience that you will. Speaking of that though, we will be heading to Trypticon next chapter and it will take place after a few day time skip (a few solar cycle time skip to them) and it will be a lot of fun.**

 **As for this chapter, you got to learn about two different groups that are struggling with the Council. The first are the Guardians and you can tell that they are getting close to the tipping point when it comes to the Council. Secondly, we get to see Balm *cheers for her medic* working in the slums of Kaon and you see just how scary the draft can be for a bot and what it is that Pandimala fights them for...well, for this issue at least.**

 **Well, that's all for now. Please leave a review, even to say hi, so I know you all exist. XD Until next time though...TTYL! *shoves tree root system over ledge***


	4. The Benefits of Incarceration

**Disclaimer: I only own my OCs.**

* * *

 **Megatron: I can't believe that this is happening.**

 **Icy: *nods* Yes, I agree with you. This is quite strange.**

 **Authoress: *confused* What are you two talking about?**

 **Shockwave: *optic shines knowingly* You shall see human.**

* * *

Ch. 3: The Benefits of Incarceration

 **Megatron's 1** **st** **P.O.V.**

The solar cycles seemed to be dragging. I had almost lost track of how many solar cycles that we have been reduced to this state. But, then Shockwave is quick to remind me when I question it. Five. This solar cycle makes five that we have been imprisoned here on our home world. To be on Cybertronian land again…it was almost invigorating. But that feeling was quickly wiped away by the fact that we were in chains.

Of course…I was responsible enough to realize that was partially due to a fault of my own. When the fighting on Cybertron became too much for me I lost my way. I turned into the very sort of monster that I was fighting against. Now I realize that I didn't deserve to have the continued support of my followers. But they followed me straight to the Pit, and now we were going to pull ourselves out.

But…that was slightly hindered by our current predicament.

"How much longer are they going to wait for this fragging trial?" Starscream's voice echoed from the cell on my left. The one on my right was darkened and empty.

It had been quite a surprise to all of us Decepticons imprisoned here when, late into the first night cycle of our imprisonment, Autobot guards walked in with a cuffed and online Starscream being marched between them. After they deposited him in the cell with Shockwave, which was next to me, I had questioned him on how he was online again. Last we knew, he had been taken offline when the two cyberninjas had gathered all the Allspark fragments that they could gather in Detroit.

Starscream, to my surprise, didn't hesitate to explain what happened. After the shard was removed from his helm, Starscream was taken offline and put into a sort of limbo between being online and offline. At first, according to said past traitor, he was surrounded by darkness. It had been a cold darkness that seemed like it would never end. After an unknown amount of time to him, he was suddenly surrounded by a blue warm light and told that he was still needed in the land of the online and that he had to be more supportive of his cause.

Over the millions of stellar cycles that I had known Starscream, I had learned how to read him and to know when he was lying to me. When he re-pledged his loyalty to me that night cycle, I could see the truth in his optics and, throughout the rest of our time here up to present, Starscream was showing the old loyalty that had caused me to choose him as my second in command over all others. Even though we were imprisoned by these accursed Autobots, our situation as a whole seemed to be improving.

Shockwave shook his helm at Starscream's question. "The Council will want to draw out these celebrations at our capture for as long as possible. They know that, if they start our trial, then the celebrations will decrease and the populace of Cybertron, even though they are mostly Autobot, would start to realize how poor their existence actually is while under the council. So, they will probably wait another seven to ten solar cycles before beginning said trial."

I nodded and frowned. "Yes, and until then, we are stuck in this accursed prison." We were stuck waiting in this accursed place while the Autobots were celebrating their 'victory'. This was bordering on cruelty to your enemy and I hoped that the Council would hurry along and get our trial done with…though I doubted that we would leave this place anyways if we even allowed to stay online. I had a feeling that, if any of us were to stay online…it would surprisingly be Starscream. I doubted that the mysterious voice that Starscream heard would have brought him back online just to offline him after the trial.

…But who knew with these kinds of things?

It looked like Shockwave wanted to say something else but the door coming into our cell block opening caused him to stay silent. All of us here watched as Dragstrip, escorted by three burly alt terrain mechs, stopped at each cell and stared. First was at Starscream and Shockwave's. He studied my two troops with a gleaning optic before turning to the cells on his left.

There were housed two previous Autobots who were now Decepticons. While they were not a part of my inner circle, I knew them quite well and knew that they could be trusted. The first of the two to come to my side was the purple car mech called Glasno Major. After the Decepticons left Cybertron, he was tortured by his superiors due to the fact that he had once been captured by us and they thought he could be a spy. The torture that he went through resulted in the rough removal of his left arm and his left optic. I was surprised when Lockdown brought him to me all broken as he was.

Standing next to him with a weary glance toward Dragstrip was a dark blue and dark gold car mech called Vox. He was an ex-Autobot intelligence officer who originated from one of the colony planets the Autobots help. Unlike most Autobots, he resisted the draft relentlessly when he used to be one. The bot worked closely with sympathetic Autobots and neutrals on Cybertron. However, he was betrayed by a fellow Autobot intelligence agent that had a very angered rivalry with him.

The two of them had been brought up here due to them stirring up trouble on the lower levels among the Autobot prisoners. From what Vox and Glasno told me, they were rallying support for anti-Autobot thoughts and the guards weren't pleased with that. The two of them were shipped up here to the fifth floor immediately.

I was in the cell next to Starscream and Shockwave and across from me was Lugnut. While he had preached my designation as loudly as he could the first solar cycle that we were captured, he had since been very quiet. It was very unnerving at just how quiet the loyal giant had been for the past few solar cycles. Now, as Dragstrip stared at him, all of his optics were narrowed in glaring daggers at the councilmech.

Dragstrip then turned to me and I made sure to be as intimidating as I could. Of course, that was a little difficult without my arm cannon. While I wanted to be angry with the young Prime…Optimus was his name, for destroying my cannon…I couldn't help but be thankful. I never thought that I would be thankful to an Autobot for taking me out and causing me to be locked up here. But here I was.

I would admit that I lost my way during the Great War and, if it wasn't for Optimus Prime and his ragtag team of Autobots, I might not have seen the error in my efforts. Unfortunately, I knew that was going to cut me back on fighting the Council and the oppressive system that they wished for. They wanted control of everything that they could and, after my capture at the servos of Optimus Prime, I realized that I had fallen into that same mentality.

Thankfully, even without my arm cannon, Dragstrip was appropriately intimidated and I could see the fear in his optics before he moved on. The only Decepticon left in the cells, since the cell next to me was both darkened and empty, was that of Blitzwing's. But, what could Dragstrip want with Blitzwing of all mechs?

I paid close attention as Dragstrip stopped and turned to Blitzwing's cell before studying him. What seemed strange was that Dragstrip looked tense when looking at the triple changer. Something told me that whatever it was that the councilmech was here to talk about, it was going to be with Blitzwing. The only thing I could think that Dragstrip would want to talk to Blitzwing about was his lack of a background. I didn't even know anything about Blitzwing's past before he was found by Starscream and brought to the Decepticons as a youngling…a very young youngling at that.

So what could Dragstrip want? I had heard rumors of the snob of an Autobot and I had information gathered on him by my supporters. Dragstrip wasn't normally the type to come into a place personally to make shady deals. He didn't like the direct link. Instead, he would normally send other bots to do his dirty work. For an Autobot who preached about being righteous, he was servo deep in a lot of dubious activities. Most of those deals would end with him backstabbing his 'partners'. I was curiuos to see what exactly what it was that he wanted with Blitzwing.

But, to my surprise, Dragstrip soon turned from Blitzwing's cell and looked to the empty and darkened cell. The three bruisers were standing at his side and I was curious as to why Dragstrip was looking into an empty cell. Perhaps we were going to be receiving another guest in the cell next to me and Dragstrip was making sure the cell would, "I know you are still online in there. Do you have anything to say?" Dragstrip addressed the empty cell.

Wait…was there someone in that darkened cell? We had been here all these solar cycles and didn't even realize that there was another prisoner up here? Or, Dragstrip was losing his already twisted processor. That seemed like the most likely,

"Why don't you go and frag yourself Dragstrip? It's the only thing your good at anyways." I jumped when a femme voice came from the darkened cell with a snap in her vocals. Guess Dragstrip's twisted processor wasn't lost yet. Pity.

Dragstrip frowned at that and stepped closer to the femme's cell. "You are in pretty deep trouble as it is femme. I would think that you would watch what you said to me. I could sway the council to reduce your sentence…if you would cooperate."

The femme let out a snort before saying, "I know what kind of 'help' you could give me Dragstrip and I'm not interested." She then paused before continuing. "Oh, and I only have four more solar cycles left in here and I would prefer to spend them without hearing the grating sound of your voice in my hearing."

I smirked at the femme's answer. She must have experience with Dragstrip and didn't trust him. That was a smart move that she made…rejecting his help. A part of me wanted to intervene and draw Dragstrip's attention away from the femme but more of me was curious about who she was and why the lights in her cell were darkened.

My smirk fell when, to my surprise, the femme's cell door opened and the three large mechs ran in. The sound of metal pounding against metal was heard a short time later and I winced as I heard each one. Dragstrip was a monster among monsters. This was a low and I thought that this was going to go on. However, the sound of the beatings, and grunts of pain from the femme, soon stopped which seemed like a signal for Dragstrip as he walked into the cell. "I would watch your tone femme. Life in these cells can be much more unforgiving then you have experienced so far. I don't know how you did it, but your little tactic of shorting the lights in your cell won't stop the more determined vermin in this prison from coming after you." I growled slightly as he inferred to my Decepticons as vermin.

In return, the femme responded, though her voice sounded like it was full as energon as she coughed and chuckled. "Come now Dragstrip…is that seriously the best empty threat you can come up with?" She then let out another energon filled chuckled. "Let me tell your poor half-functioning processor what the flaws are in your 'threat'. First of all, my trick with the lights work because I am secluded in my cell from the other Cybertronians on this floor and this keeps my appearance a secret from those who care to try and look. Secondly, and following that logic, this seclusion also prevents the…oh how did you put it…oh, that's right. This seclusion prevents those 'more determined vermin' from coming after me here. Finally," She then paused and I could almost hear the smirk in her voice as she continued. "nothing these prisoners put me through can compare to your three processor-offline barbarians coming in here and roughing me up while forced to look at your repulsing chassis and listen to your grating vocals."

Well, the femme definitely seemed to have a spinal strut on her. But, I couldn't figure out just who she was. If she was imprisoned here with us, then she had to be a Decepticon. The Autobots never placed any of their own in the same holding area as Decepticons. They were even reluctant to have Vox and Glasno put up here. But, with the spunk that this femme was showing I knew that there had to be something in our records about her. But, I had to learn her designation first!

I flinched as I could hear the sound of the three bruisers beating on the femme again. This time the beating lasted even longer before I heard the sound of her being slammed against the darkened wall of her cell. Once I figured out who those three bruisers were, or who the femme was and she told me who they were, then I was going to make Dragstrip pay. No bot hurt my Decepticons without paying the cost even if I didn't know the Decepticon personally. But for now, behind these bars, I could do nothing.

After the femme was thrown against the wall, Dragstrip and his bruisers left the cell and reactivated the bars. Once they were humming again, Dragstrip smirked. "You know femme…I believe that this cell block is going to be having some electrical tests that might disrupt the stasis barriers isolating you. I would be most surprised if you last your last four solar cycles here." His smirk then grew and he nodded. "Good solar cycle brat."

The femme growled and I frowned as I watched Dragstrip leave. Since, besides the femme who was in the darkened cell, only myself and Decepticons I knew occupied this floor and that meant that Dragstrip hoped we would do his dirty work for him. That pathetic Autobot…and council member to boot, thought so little of us that he assumed that we would degrade ourselves to do his dirty work and attack the femme if the barriers were dropped. He must believe that we were barbaric monsters. Even if we were the sort of scum that would attack the femme if the barriers were down…which we weren't, we would hold ourselves back just because we didn't need to attack the feme so badly that we helped the sleazy Autobot high official.

Flickering from my left caused me to turn and I felt my optics widen in surprise when all the barriers on our floor suddenly went down. It seems like Dragstrip was a little desperate to take this femme out of the picture here on Cybertron. Just what had she done? She had mentioned only having four solar cycles left in Trypticon Prison and that thought made me realize that she probably wasn't a Decepticon but instead a neutral who resided on the planet. There weren't many on Cybertron now but a few had stuck around. She must be one and she must cause problems.

However, while I was curious about the femme, I decided that using this time to plan our escape would be best. It was always best to use the Autobots' own stupidity against them. "We need to plan our escape. Shockwave," I started to address the mech as he and the others made their way to my cell. "how do you think we should make our escape from here? You would know best from your time among them."

The mech with one optic looked around the cell block for a click, resting on the blackened cell for a nano-click, before returning to me. "From my time as a spy in the Autobots, I know that we are currently on the fifth floor of this prison, which is the top floor. Usually, the north entrance is more guarded than the southern one that we were brought into through since the shipyards are closer to the northern exit. There are two guard housings which are located on the northern side on the floor before us and the first floor. From the information that I have, I recommend that we use the door terminal on our floor to knock out the security for all the floors. With the chaos that ensues from that we should have ample time to make our way to one of our allies still on Cybertron…or if needed a draft dodger assistance group. From whichever of those two places we end up we can procure a ship to leave Cybertron and move on to the next phase of your plan."

I nodded. While there were variables that could cause issues with his plan, they weren't major obstacles and could be dealt with during the escape. "That sounds like a solid plan for escape. How should,"

"It's not going to work."

All of us turned to the darkened cell as the femme's voice came from it. What did she mean? Shockwave was the head of intelligence for the Autobots at one point and he would have access to their procedures. I was sure that this femme was a neutral and, as such, would not have nearly the access to information that Shockwave would have had.

Shockwave, instead of being upset of the femme for questioning his logic, seemed curious. "What is flawed in my deduction? From the information that I have there is not a flaw in my logic."

The femme chuckled at Shockwave's response…still sounding like her coughs were full of energon. "The flow is not in the logic…but instead it is in the information that you have gathered. First off, you are basing all of your plan on knowledge that you obtained while being a spy in the Autobot ranks…something you haven't been for over sixty solar cycles. While I despise the Autobots, they aren't as idiotic as I wish they were." She then let out another cough. "You are correct that we are on the fifth floor. However, after you were found out, the Council decided to close off the north entrance so the only natural entrance and exit is the southern one. Due to this change, they have been able to reorganize their security so they have a guard station on every floor except for this one."

"Why not this one?" Starscream questioned her.

You could almost hear the smirk in her answer. "Well, they aren't the brightest out there and I think some of them know that. They figure that, since only the worst bots are kept up here, that it would be best to give them less chance to attack their guards." She then paused and coughed before continuing. "The reorganization in the guards mean that the chaos you used to be able to cause with a mass breakout will be far less than you would need. Finally, one of my sources in Autobot intelligence informed me that, after you were found out to be a spy, the CIA…that is the Cybertron Intelligence Agency, was brought here to Trypticon Prison to set up an emergency locking system that would isolate any attempt to shut down the network here on the floor that the intrusion was started. Sure…you would get off the fifth floor but you would stand a higher chance of getting recaptured on the other floors."

I hadn't thought about how reliable the information that Shockwave had still was. The Autobots would, of course, have reacted to their head of intelligence being a Decepticon spy. Our escape would not have made it very far and then it would be even harder for us to escape. If we were going to escape, we had to get our escape right the first time. However, I was curious about why the femme was speaking up now. "Why are you helping us?" I questioned her.

With her apparent dislike of Dragstrip, I didn't expect her to answer me in a cold voice. "Don't misunderstand my interjection." She let out another cough and I was worried that she might be more injured than what I previously thought. "I have no opinion on the Decepticons. Your victory or defeat means very little to me. I just don't want to see those…monsters called Autobots win. If you make an escape attempt and fail, it would strengthen the hold that scum like Dragstrip have on this planet."

The femme then went silent and, with how bluntly she finished off her speaking, she seemed done talking to us. While I was curious about the femme it would not do good to waste time with questioning her if she wouldn't answer.

However, it seemed like Vox had more to say to her. "Wait femme…I recognize your voice. You're the one called Joker…aren't you?" He questioned her.

Joker? That was the designation of a well-known draft dodger assistant. Joker, from the intel that we had, was known for getting captured by the Autobots to allow the draft dodgers they were assisting to get away to take scrutiny off big action draft escape missions. We heard word from our informants in Kaon and Tarn, since they were the ones that were most likely to be forced into a draft, that the Joker and their close supporters were very supportive of keeping our allies free from the Council.

"And your voice is familiar to me as well Optio," The femme suddenly spoke. "Yes, I am Joker and I am pleased that you are still online. It has been far too long since I have heard about you from the others helping the draft dodgers." The sound of movement told me that the femme in the other cell had changed her position…though I wasn't sure if it was from standing to sitting or the other way around. "I also see that you have joined the Decepticons. Tell me Optio…do you believe in their cause?"

So the femme recognized Vox…though by his alias Optio. I could hear her tone tighten and I hoped that this would allow her to relax around us more. It would be strange to have her on the same floor as us all for the next four solar cycles and have a tense air around her. I focused as Vox responded. "I believe in their true cause Joker." He then paused and I watched as he smiled before continuing. "Even the idiot next to me would admit that he lost his processor during the fighting with the Autobots. He became what he was fighting against." I threw Vox a look. He was getting pretty loose with his glossa. "But…I have seen through my time spent here that he has truly changed and I fully support his worthy cause of equality for all. In the kind of government he plans, there would be no more drafts. The caste system would be no more as well. He fights for as true of a cause as we do each time we help a dodger evade the Autobots."

I was surprised when the mystery femme let out a sigh. She seemed so confident but her letting out that sigh confused me. "Optio…I am glad that you have found a cause that you believe in with your spark. However…I have much I must accomplish in my existence before I can even start to discern where I should place my loyalties. My life is not the only one that I must suffer through for. There are those that are close to my spark that I have been separated from for hundreds of stellar cycles. I must ascertain their safety before I even think about leaving this planet and the scrutiny that the Autobot scraplets have placed me under."

Now I was very confused. She was being forced to stay on Cybertron yet they locked her away with us. If the Autobots were keeping this femme here against her will, then placing her with the Decepticons was not a strategic move. Something wasn't adding up quite right for me and it was only going to be solved if the femme here with us would answer my questions. But…given her cold response to me earlier and yet the familiar one with Vox, I had a feeling that none of my questions were going to be answered at this time. But…I might as well try. "Who are you really femme? The Autobots wouldn't just lock anybot up here with us Decepticons unless they had turned to the Decepticons and…while I feel like you must have done a lot to get them upset with you to place you in here, I don't think you are a Decepticon."

A growl actually came from the femme this time I spoke to her. It was not what I was expecting. " _That_ is none of your concern nor do I wish to let you know that information. The reason that I was locked up here was mainly because of the draft dodging I help with though there might have been a few extra charges. My reasoning for being in here is _none_ of your concern."

While I could see why this femme might be reluctant to divulge the information I wanted…I needed that information if she was going to be staying on the same floor as we were. "It _is_ if you are to be on the same floor…and might I add a floor that now has no barriers, and could possibly be a danger to my troops. As their leader it is _my_ duty to look after them and to ensure their safety when they should not have to risk their safety. While being imprisoned, I will do anything and everything in my power to make sure that my subordinates are not injured. Any that do injure them will have to face my wrath. Like you, I don't trust a bot that I don't know anything about and I don't know anything about you." I raised my arm in an automatic reaction though the Auto…Optimus Prime had destroyed my arm cannon when he had captured me. No need to give the Autobots any credit that they didn't deserve.

 **Blitzwing's 1** **st** **P.O.V. (Icy)**

This femme…she was familiar to me. I didn't know how, since I hadn't been near Cybertron as a free bot since we were forced off of Cybertron. She was strange. While it was obvious to see that this femme seemed to get very defensive very easily, she also seemed to possess a sharp processor. Of course… _that_ had been proven when she had found flaws in even Shockwave's plan.

 _Yeah she seems as crazy as we are!_ Random laughed in my helm. She did seem a little out of her processor but not as…obviously as we were.

 **She needs to answer Megatron's questions.** Hothead decided he had to comment mentally as well. I could understand that but it seemed like the femme was very reluctant to answer as it was and our interjection would probably not help the situation any.

"Your reasoning…" The femme started before hesitating slightly. "is…reasonable. I guess that without you knowing who I am exactly that your troops could be placed in danger with the barriers now bone…which I have no doubt that we have that _slagger_ Dragstrip to thank." I felt worry as she coughed again. That sounded like something was damaged and she might be in pain. While none of us were medics, both Shockwave and Glasno Major knew enough about the medical field to at least help her slightly.

"So, you are going to tell us who you are?" Starscream questioned her.

There was a slight growl in the femme's voice as she answered. "Not yet. First, if I follow the same logic I was just presented, I cannot answer first. There are many more of you on this expolsed floor than me and, while I trust Optio, I have little knowledge on who the rest of you Decepticons are. So, once I have introductions for each of you, then I shall disclose my own name."

This femme was stubborn. I could see the point in her argument but, at the same time, I knew that this circular argument could last all solar cycle and we weren't sure how long the stasis bars were going to be down.

 _Yeah she acts like Hothead!_ Random pointed out.

That earned a mental growl from Hothead but nothing was said as Megatron nodded. "Very well." He probably saw the inevitability of arguing with the femme and so decided to oblige her to earn her trust. It was painfully obvious to me that she didn't trust the Autobots so her trusting us would be a step in the right direction. "I am Megatron, previously Megatronus during my time in the Kaon Gladiatorial Pits, leader of the Decepticon cause."

While I could feel Rnadom's urge to go next, I knew that Starscream had the right to answer next as the second in command. "I am Starscream," said seeker started, "originally a native of Vox, second in command of the Decepticon cause and leader of our seekers."

"And I am Shockwave, head of intelligence for the Decepticon cause. Once known as Strongarm Prime when I was acting as a spy among the Autobots." Shockwave introduced himself. It wasn't easy to impress the mech with one optic but, from the look that he was sending toward the darkened cell, this femme had done just that.

 **That's a surprise.** Hothead murmured internally.

Then, Glasno Major held up his cannon arm before placing it in his right servo. "Greetings. I am Glasno Major. After I was tortured by my superiors…when the Decepticons first left Cybertron, I decided that my loyalties would be better spent with the Decepticons."

I glanced at Vox out of the corner of my optic as he spoke. He was the only one here who had any past contact with this femme, who went under the codename 'Joker'. It made me wonder what he was going to say. "Well, you know me as Optio, Joker, but my actual name is Vox. I was once an Autobot intelligence agent that also worked in helping bots avoid the draft. However, one of my coworkers caught on to my doings and got me sent to the stockades. After my time there, I decided to leave and join the Decepticons. They were a cause that I could fight behind."

My memory flashed back to the first time I had met Vox. He seemed very determined to help our cause and to make sure that the Autobots continued to fail. It was due to his actions that we were able to locate the general area of the Allspark when Optimus Prime had found it.

 _I never got to see him turn into a firetruck!_ Random whined internally. I had to resist the urge to shake my helm.

Lugnut, of course, wasted no time in introducing himself. "I am Lugnut and I will always be faithful to the mighty Megatron."

…That was it? No crazy long drawn out praising? When we broke out of this place, I was going to have to see if he had a glitch in his programming to have caused this sort of change.

 **It is our turn Icy.** Hothead reminded me.

I was the last, so what Hothead said was true. However, before I could say anything, my personality was switched out and Random took over…and I knew this couldn't end well." _Hang on I zhought zhat it vas zhe femme who introduced herself first?_ " He then let out one of his cackles before I felt the command to switch again and, before I could take over, Hothead came out. " **Now is not zhe time for that jou idiot! We have to introduce ourselves first!** " Finally, I was able to activate the program and take control of our chassis from my other personalities…who I referred to as my brothers. Since I had lost my brother and sister, they were the only family I truly had. "My apologies femme if I startled jou." I started politely to ease her if my brothers surprised her. "Ever since I vas captured during ze var and experimented on, I have had a multiple personality disorder and I refer to zhe ozher personalities as my brozhers. For each of us, I am Icy, zhe one before me vas Hothead, and zhe first one vas Random. Collectively though, we are known as Blitzving."

We all then waited. Now the femme should uphold the silent agreement that she made with Megatron and give us her name. But…there was only silence. Was the femme backing out of our agreement or was there something more that we weren't seeing?

 **This femme better not try and double cross us.** Hothead growled and I had to hold him back from taking over.

While it was strange that the femme was not answering, I could not let him attack her. There was something strangely familiar about this femme, even though we couldn't see her, and I wanted to know. She seemed to be honest in her words so far so for her to not follow through with her promise seemed strange. After five clicks passed, I could see that Megatron was about to speak with her when a soft sound coming from the femme stopped him. Honestly I was surprised as well.

…It was soft crying.

 _Why is she crying?_ Random asked both Hothead and I quietly in our mind.

I wasn't sure on the answer and just thought. What _could_ have been said that would have thrown the femme into crying? Since I was the last one to speak then it had to be something that I said. But, I could not think about what could have made this femme, who seemed so cold and distant before my introduction, to start crying so freely now. After a few clicks, the crying stopped and I could hear the femme take a few deep but shaky intakes before she spoke again.

"Blitzwing…" I was right and it was going to be toward me. But…what could she want with, "tell me about your family."

Hesitation flowed through me when she asked that question. I had never told anybot about my family…due to what happened. I didn't trust anybot enough to share my past and I was almost about to say no. But, then I really started to think. This femme was crying before she asked me this. Did she know my family?

 **She's too nosy.** Hothead growled from inside my head.

I know but there is something about her. I mentally commented to him.

So it looked like Random would be the tie breaker between the three of us. It was odd. That was usually my role in the argument.

There was mental silence for a click before he finally gave his opinion. _She might seem like a sharkticon but I bet she's as cuddly as a petro-rabbit if we give her the chance!_ Random laughed internally.

So, with that settled, I could answer the femme now. "I vas sparked by my neutral creators who designations vere Blitzkrieg and Shimmerving. Vhen I vas just a youngling, ve vere attacked by zhe Autobots, who vanted to take my brozher and sister as vell as myself into zhere…care. My siblings and I ran as my creators fought off zhe Autobots…to give us a chance. Zhey didn't make it. My brozher and I escaped through a secret passage in zhe ground but my sister stayed behind to lead zhe Autobots away from us. I got my brozher to some neutral friends zhat vere zhere to pick us up but I had to distract some Autobots who had caught up vizh us. Zhe neutrals had vanted to vait for me but zhe train left vith zhem and my brozher as I ran from zhe Autobots. Zhankfully, zhey didn't notice my brozher. Before zhey captured me, I ran into Starscream here and he helped me get avay from zhe Autobots."

The floor then grew quiet and we found ourselves waiting. I knew that my fellow Decepticons were probably placing the information I just gave them into their memory banks. I had never given away so much information about myself and, as the silence continued, I could only hope that it was worth it in the end. Right now I felt more exposed than I ever had and this was,

I flinched and tried to get into a defensive as a black blur suddenly came out of the darkness of the femme's cell and straight for me. My first reaction was to attack the being but, instead of attacking me, the femme suddenly wrapped her arms around my chassis and held me in an embrace…what was she,

My processor stopped thinking as the femme glanced up at me, tears falling from her lime green optics, and a smile on her face. "Blitzwing…they told me that you had offlined. I…I am so happy that you are online Blitzy!"

My spark stopped as this femme spoke. I couldn't believe what was happening. This femme…she had to be. But…at the same time it seemed impossible. She was supposed to be offline. My first thought was that she was a clone. The Autobots could copy her coloring and her optics. But, when she had spoken, I knew that there was no doubt as to who this was. She was the only one who would call me Blitzy. Now…I didn't want to let go of her. I never wanted to let go of her again.

"Blitzwing," I glanced at Lord Megatron as he was staring at both of us with a curious look. "who is this?"

That was right. She had never introduced herself before she came out and made my solar cycle. I smiled softly…still hugging the femme, before answering my leader. "Megatron, zhis femme is very precious to me and, to be honest, I zhought zhat she vas offline. Megatron, zhis is Pandimala…and she is my sister."

I could feel the shock on everybot around us but…at this click, I just wanted to continue hold my sister who I thought was once offline, but was now in my arms and I was never letting go.

* * *

 **Megatron: *shocked* That's...that's...did I hear that right?**

 **Authoress: *looks where Megatron is looking* Yes. Yes you did. *smiles* And people say that I am cruel and evil.**

 **Blitzwing and Pandimala: *hugging each other and not letting go***

* * *

 **AN: And here is the next chapter! Lots of feels in here as well as some fun! I hope you have all enjoyed this! Looks like we got Pandimala poking holes in Shockwave's plan and a very happy reunion! I decided to have this in Blitzwing's POV at the end, where I originally had Megatron at the end here. It was a little challenging writing Blitzwing's POV but I hope I did a good job. When I get to the next chapter, we will have some more explanation and maybe another POV that you might not expect. But, I want to update a couple chapters in my other stories...at least, before I get to that point.**

 **That's all I have for now. Please leave a review so I know you are out here. Until next time, TTYL! *watches The Rifleman while planning future chapters***


	5. Hello Goodbye

**Disclaimer: I only own my OCs. Vox belongs to a friend.**

* * *

 **Authoress: *smirks* See, I am a good Authoress. I haven't abandoned you!**

 **Megatron: *taps cannon impatiently* You better not.**

 **Authoress: *gulps***

* * *

Ch. 4: Hello Goodbye

 **Megatron's 1** **st** **P.O.V.**

If it wasn't for the fact that I was used to the unexpected, I was sure that my jaw would be placed firmly against the floor. My processor was still racing that Blitzwing…Blitzwing of all mechs had siblings. From the story that he told this Pandimala, he had two of them…and one was the femme that was in front of us. When she had first interacted with it, her demeanor was cold and she didn't want to have any sort of connection with us. Of course, she hadn't wanted connections with Dragstrip so that put her a little more ahead of most in my books. But, her stance on the war had thrown me. She didn't care if I won but she didn't want the Autobots to win? That hadn't made much sense to me.

But, that cold attitude from before was almost completely gone as both Pandimala and Blitzwing embraced each other. Primus had to be looking down on us for these sort of odds. One of Blitzwing's siblings, that he never spoke on before, just so happened to be imprisoned in the cells near us and now the two seemed to be reunited.

Movement from the two triple changers caused me to focus as Pandimala final took a few steps back from Blitzwing. Blitzwing, though, was the first to actually speak. "P…Pandimala. How? I heard zhat jou vere offline?"

A sigh escaped the femme's vocals and she nodded before saying, "That makes sense. I guess the Autobots didn't want the Decepticons to know that they had a triple changer…somewhat." Somewhat? While I knew that there was something strange about how Pandimala was here with the Autobots even though it was obvious to see that she despised them.

"Pandimala," Both looked to me as I spoke. "what do you mean by 'somewhat'?

For the first time, Pandimala did not give me a cold look at my question, but instead softened her look before speaking. "that solar cycle so long ago…I decided to be a diversion to allow Blitzy and our brother time to escape from the Autobots, who offlined our parents. In doing so, I was captured and eventually raised by Ultra Prime, who is now Ultra Magnus. In return for not leaving the Autobots, they promised me that they would stop their hunt for Blitzy and our brother. I wasn't kept informed about anything outside of my…'lessons'." She seemed to shiver at the mention of these lessons and I realized that they were probably lessons on how she would become an Autobot.

However, since she was in here, I had a feeling that they weren't very successful.

After Pandimala said that, I studied both triple changers some more and I realized that, while both of their optics showed joy…probably from being reunited, they also showed worry. If I had to take a guess as to why, I had a feeling that Blitzwing's worry was due to whatever his sister went through to save him. For Pandimala…well, she seemed to be very clever in hiding her reasoning behind her optics.

"Pandimala," Glasno Major stated to speak to her. She turned to him as he continued. "is there bad energon between you and the Autobot Dragstrip?"

Immediately after his question was asked, Pandimala's optics hardened and a small growl escaped her before she spoke. "Yes. I have bad energon with Dragstrip. Actually…I have bad energon with most Autobots on the council and…and on Cybertron in general." She then sighed and seemed to stare off into the distance for a click.

To help snap her out of it, I decided to ask her another question. "Pandimala, what are your plans now?"

Her optics focused on me and I could almost see her processor churning as she must be thinking on my question. "Megatron, I must get something out into the open now. While I am not a Decepticon right now, and I don't plan on being one for a while, I do have respect for you. If my brother has decided to place his loyalty in you and your cause, even after what happened to us when we were younger, then I will hold you in higher regard than I do most bots that I do not know well." That was a relief. I had been worried that, after this, she would go back to giving me that cold shoulder.

"That is good to know." I responded to Pandimala's proclamation that she would not be giving me the cold shoulder.

Nodding, Pandimala smirked before she sat down…on my berth the cheeky femme, before she continued. "As to what the future holds, well, I think I have something in the works. Like I told Dragstrip, I only have four more solar cycles remaining here for this incarceration. Once I am out, I will have to meet with some friends of mine to gather intel. They should be able to get the information I need. Once we have the details, I'll send one of my contacts to give you the information that you will need, since I have a feeling that you are not going anywhere anytime soon."

This femme was pretty cocky. But, I had a funny feeling that she would be sprouting out these things without thinking them through. From how she was acting, she was very confident in both her abilities and those of her friends…of which I was surprised she had any from how she reacted to the Autobots.

"I thought that you did not like the Autobots?" Shockwave asked her, seemingly catching the fact that she had friends in the Autobots.

Instead of getting angry or defensive at what Shockwave asked her, Pandimala simply laughed. "I'm not completely sparkless." She then paused before she looked at Shockwave. "Shockwave, can you say that all of the Decepticons think like your group here does?"

That was a very interesting question and, of course, Shockwave answered it correctly. "Of course not." He shook his helm as he answered that.

In return, Pandimala nodded and smirked. "And just like that, not all Autobots are twisted slaggers that couldn't get a frag in a pleasure house." She then paused before letting out a laugh. "Actually, one of my friends…who is an unfortunate Autobot, could do very well if he would accept all the offers he gets."

Well, she certainly made her point. It was also interesting to note that she could make friends. This femme seemed like a lone cyber-wolf type. I would see if I couldn't use some of our contacts still here on Cybertron to find out more information on the femme. Until then, though, we would have to deal with what we knew. Since she was Blitzwing's sister, and there was the fact that she was in this place with us, I had a feeling that she would not be a risk to us. However, how much of a help she would be…that would be put on hold until I could get some information.

"And what are we supposed to do until your contact comes to us?" Starscream asked with his arms crossed.

Pandimala stared at Starscream for a long click before she let out a short laugh and stood up. She walked back to her cell before saying, "Try to stay alive. Oh, and I would get back into your cells here soon. The security has been off for about eight clicks already. Ten clicks is the longest amount of time that these security bars are allowed to be off. After that, things start to look suspicious. They shouldn't know anything about our conversation though so that will be good on both of our parts."

She was right. If Dragstrip had been expecting us to help him, then he would have made sure that the security cameras were out as well. For being Blitzwing's sister, she was a lot smarter than I gave her credit for. Sure, Blitzwing was smart, but this femme was devious in her own right. Must be due to having to stay with the Autobots for so long.

Remembering what she had just suggested, though, I turned to my troops. "We should return to our cell boundries…the correct ones." I threw a look toward Blitzwing at that one, who looked back to me with a guilty look on Icy's faceplate. Yes, I figured that he was wanting to talk with his sister more but right now there wasn't time for that. "Do not act differently than you were before the Autobot left." I almost let out a sigh as I thought on Blitzwing again. There was only one thing that I knew would guarantee that he would continue to act like he did before. I never thought that I would have to give this order…ever. "Blitzwing,"

He turned to me, Random showing, " _Yes captain sir?"_ He let out some cackles after that.

"when any Autobot comes in here, you are to let Hothead out and let him stay out until they leave." He nodded at that and, while I knew that he wanted to spend time with his sister and be happy that she was alive, he seemed to understand that, to keep her safety assured as well as the little we had now, he would have to follow that order no matter what.

Icy then came in control before he nodded once. "Yes sir."

As my Decepticons made their way to their cells, I sat on my berth and looked to the femme's darkened cell. There was one more question that I would like answered. "Femme, why did you darken your cell? I understand that you wanted to stay hidden but I have a feeling that it was not the only reason that you did that."

The bars suddenly hummed to life so I knew that I wasn't going to be getting the answer that I wanted. However, I would be waiting to get an answer to that question. Until then, I had to move back to my thoughts before all of this information came with the form of the reveal of Blitzwing's sister; our escape.

 **Ratchet's 1** **st** **P.O.V.**

I sighed internally as we made our way toward Omega Supreme, currently in his Ark form. This was it. After our time spent here on Cybertron, it was time for our team to return to Earth and work on keeping up relations with the humans. While a part of me was relieved to be returning to the small planet, another part of me was reluctant to leave. As I glanced up at the small crowd of bots that were here to see us off, my optics landed on Balm's and I nodded toward her.

She was part of the reason that I was reluctant to leave. That solar that I spent working with her in Kaon, it showed me just how much Cybertron was collapsing. The bots there were suffering and yet they were afraid to get too much treatment in fear of the Council coming through and forcing them to enlist. While I understood the need for a draft, especially now that the Decepticons had increased their activity to try and retrieve their leader, I knew that there were many bots in Iacon who should fall under the draft that weren't drafted.

When I worked on the bots, I had seen the worry in their optics that I would fix too much. But, just as soon as that worry was there, Balm would be next to the bot reassuring said bot that I would not do any more than what was absolutely , I had a policy of not letting a bot leave my servos until they were in top working order. But, many of the bots in Iacon walked away from me with system glitches that would have been simple to fix. But, they held that fear. It almost caused me to leave Optimus' team and stay here on Cybertron.

But, then I had watched as Balm had gone from bot to bot around her and worked on them, smiling and laughing with them like they were close friends. She had a connection with the bots here in Kaon and I knew that, while I would be worried for her, that she would be alright working in the city. Over fifty stellar cycles since I had seen the femme and I had never expected her to grow up so quickly. She went from a nervous new medic just testing the proverbial ground around her to working in the worst part of one of the worst cities on Cybertron…if not the worst.

"Ratchet, you keep them all in line!" Joint yelled to me as she stood next to Balm.

With a shake of my helm I yelled back to my two apprentices…well Balm really. "Balm, make sure that you keep Joint from getting into any trouble. I don't need to be wasting any time trying to bail her out of whatever mess she gets herself in."

Joint's faceplate fell at that but Balm smiled widely and nodded. "You got it Ratch!"

I then turned to get on the ship when I noticed that Bumblebee was standing there staring toward the crowd. When I followed his gaze, I saw that he was staring at the lavender colored femme that was known as Lavana. I had met her a few times at Slapjack's bar and, from how they were both looking at each other, I had a feeling that I would be having many helmaches in the future. Until then, however, I marched up to Bumblebee. "And you come on. We have to take off soon." I then used my magnets to drag the mini-bot behind me.

He of course, finally found his vocalizer and yelled out to the femme. "Call me whenever Lavana!"

"I will!" She yelled back to him before adding. "And don't forget to send me pictures of Earth!"

"Promise!" He yelled back to her as the two of us made our way onto the ship. Since we were the last ones on board, the cargo bay doors shut behind us and I finally let the kid go before we made our way to the bridge. This was going to be a long flight and we needed to get it started soon.

Once we were on the bridge, I took a count of which bots were on board. Of course, Optimus was at the helm, ready to lead all of us back to Earth. Bumblebee made his way over to Blurr, who was recently reconstructed from a cube that the Decepticon Shockwave had put him in, and the two of them started to talk about races. Prowl and Jazz were sitting next to each other talking in quiet tones. With everything that happened during the final battle, I had a feeling that they were talking about that. Bulkhead was sitting near Bumblebee and Blurr trying to get comfortable for this trip. He seemed to have enjoyed his time here on Cybertron but, at the same time, I knew the big bot was probably ready to get back to his 'painting' on Earth.

Then, there was Sari talking with our two of our newest members. The twins Galleon and Caravel, also known as the Sea Terror twins, were animatedly speaking with Sari. They were both just shorter than Optimus was and it was obvious that they had been created to fight in battles. From the pre-exam that I had to give them before they were allowed to come with us, I could tell that their armor was made of a sturdier metal than most and they had large anchor mods that they kept on their backs. The two had even told me that they were trained from a young age to fight.

Of course, being from Ocean Planet gave them a different set of circumstances than what I was used to. There, they had to fight the large creatures who lived on that planet as well to survive. The Council had discovered the twins during one of their trips to our colony planets and had brought them back for Academy training.

They were, however, very rambunctious and caused the Academy trouble whenever they could. It got to the point that, before now, no team would take them because of their wild behavior. Of course, we had Bumblebee so we were used to it. Plus, the open spaces of Earth would allow the twins to stretch their legs a bit.

Finally, I took a seat by the last of our new bots. He was a white mech with gray markings, stood just taller than Optimus, and was only a little younger than said Prime. The mech with light blue optics made room for me and so I sat down before he spoke. "It seems strange, leaving Cybertron right now. The last time that I left the planet was before the Decepticons were kicked off of Cybertron." Templar had been a strange case for the Autobots. While he was barely older than Optimus, he had been thrown into the fighting of the Great War here on Cybertron and had, in short time, become a sort of legend in his own right. But, after the war, he had disappeared and many thought that he had left the planet.

But, it seemed like Alpha Trion, who had suggested that we bring some new bots with us back to Earth, had known exactly where to find him. To respond to Templar, I nodded. "Yes, it does seem strange to be leaving. I have a feeling that something is going to happen soon, and whatever it will be will not be good."

As Omega Supreme started to lift off into space, I took a quick look down at the metallic surface below. Yes, something was going to happen. Major changes, like capturing the leader of the Decepticons, did not happen without major changes. I just hoped that Cybertron would continue to survive.

 **Slapjack's 1** **st** **P.O.V.**

I focused as the three bots currently in my bar spoke as they sat at the counter. With the departure of Optimus Prime's team, we all knew that pressure would be returning from the Council and, given what happened to Tana, then they were worried that the Council would take even more drastic steps against the Guardians. This feud between the Council and the Guardians was getting out of servo and, with the capture of Megatron and his inner circle, I was afraid that they were not going to back down for some time.

"We need to set up a meeting with the Council to discuss this current situation. We can't let them continue this for any longer. Something has to give if we are to continue working here on Cybertron." Hinge spoke to the two mechs sitting next to him at the counter.

Blackbit, the black hauling Guardian, shook his helm firmly against this. "Hinge, you know that the Council isn't going to give into anything to reach a compromise! Look what they did to Tana! They had her attacked during the mid-solar and they didn't even care if we knew about them being behind the attack. They are over-charged on arrogance and power and they will not stop until something is done to stop them."

Both Hinge and Blackbit stared at each other for a click. I knew that they were friends, and had been for a long time, but they could sometimes be stubborn to deal with. Thankfully, there was a tie-breaker here as well. "Hinge, while I agree that something does need to happen so this craziness will cease, I must side with Blackbit on this one." The ruby car mech known as Chem stepped in. While he was the newer Guardian compared to his two compatriots, he was an analyzing genius in his own right. Of course, with how Hinge and Blackbit had found Chem, you wouldn't have known that about the mech.

Hinge sighed and nodded. "You both are right, of course, but we cannot make our move yet. The Council is watching us very closely, especially with what happened with Tana, and I have a feeling that they will be contacting me soon to have a meeting regardless." He then shook his helm. "I want you to let the others know that we will soon be having a dark meeting."

While I wasn't privy to those sorts of meetings, I did know what they were. Dark meetings made use of the most advance technology that the Guardians had access to while using manual barriers to prevent any words spoken during those meetings from getting to any sources on the outside. Only those in the room would know what was spoken during those meetings. Out of the six dark meetings that I knew of, I had been present at one. It was the fourth meeting, right after the twins were brought on, and it was to discuss the war and how each side was reacting to it from the information that the Guardians had access to.

So, to hint at the possibility of another dark meeting meant that whatever issue that they were talking about was important. Plus, with all the problems that the Guardians were having with the Council I had a feeling that this meeting would be about them. "So Hinge," I started after a few clicks of silence between the three of them. All three Guardians turned to me before I continued. "what was your actual opinion on that young mech Bumblebee and the techno-organic? I know you were being friendly with them during the tour but I know that you've done some investigating since then. So…what _is_ your verdict?"

The other two Guardians turned to Hinge and he studied me slightly before he started. "Well, the young mech is your basic definition of a prankster. Probably gives the medic on that team, Ratchet, a real helm-ache. But, he's loyal and he fights for what he thinks is right. Not that suited in strength but his speed would make up for it if he had the right training." Hinge then paused. "Can't really blame him for the training though. From what I dug up, both he and his fellow teammate, Bulkhead, were a part of a boot camp that was trained by Sentinel Prime."

I shook my helm at that. Who in their right processor allowed _that_ moronic piece of slag to train fresh new cadets? I mean, he was barely fighter material himself and he was supposed to show rookies how to fight? Frag this was a messed-up system. It made me wonder just how many strings the mech had to pull to get that sort of position. "So how did this Bumblebee do on the training course?" Blackbit asked as he took a drink out of his midgrade with platinum flakes. I was curious too and so I paid attention.

Hinge smirked at that. "Well, I wouldn't say that he did stellar, but he did a lot better than I think Sentinel would have if we let him near Guardian Headquarters. That fighting against the Decepticons on Earth probably helped teach the young mech some battle techniques." The smirk then fell from the Guardian's faceplate before saying, "But they are rough. While I don't see him ever becoming Guardian material, he can go far if he would just receive proper training. From my sources, Templar has recently joined Optimus' team along with the Sea Terror twins, Galleon and Caravel. Knowing Templar, he should see their lack of training and I have no doubt that he will get to training them. That team…they will go far if they receive the correct training."

"And what about the others on the team?" I asked them as I grabbed Chem's empty cube to refill it with before placing it in front of the ruby Guardian.

Chem took a sip of said energon before he started talking. "The space-bridge expert, Bulkhead, with the right training, I could see even the Wreckers taking an in interest in him. With the young cyber-ninja Prowl, he is very skilled for not having a master since Yoketron was killed. Jazz, who has gone with them, has done alright in guiding Prowl. But, he could use some refinement tips from another cyber-ninja with a different view. I might be able to contact a friend to see if he can take a vacation to Earth."

Blackbit then took over from where Chem left off. "The techno-organic, Sari, seems to be the most mysterious of the bunch, and it is fairly obvious that it is through no fault of her own. From what I have heard, the CBI and the CIA are going to be launching a full investigation into how the pre-formed protoform made it to Earth and into her sire's hands. I'll keep on my contacts for new information. Then, there is the old medic, Ratchet. I say that, since we all know the old medic, that we can move on?"

Yes, I remember Ratchet sitting in here a few times with Balm for a break from work. He was certified long ago. I once heard Hinge refer to Ratchet as a 'Guardian of the medical field'. He wasn't unknown to us at all. He was counted as a friend.

Hinge nodded and pulled up the two femmes up that recently joined this team. "Galleon and Caravel. The Sea Terror Twins. Showed promise during boot camp but had issues when following some troop commanders. Would resort to almost mutiny if they were against an order enough. But, from what my sources have picked up, they made a friend out of Ultra Magnus and he helped them stay in boot camp long enough to get through. However, until now, no other team would take them. Maybe Ultra Magnus is hoping that Optimus' team will help make them more reasonable."

Yes, my own sources outside of the Guardians had told me the same. I was hoping they had other things that I didn't have access to. But, I guess not. Oh well. There were only two more left outside of the speedster Blurr. But, we all knew about him so there wasn't any need to go over his information. "Then we have Templar." Blackbit started while pulling up information on the third new member. "Templar is known to us due to his actions. He is a decorate hero, and a young one at that. It always amazed me that the fame didn't go to his processor. Was one of the best fighters we had on the front lines. But, I'm not sure why he has decided to go with Optimus Prime's team. They don't seem like a fit for him but we will see."

Chem then took over the final member of the team. "Yes, and then we have the Prime himself. Has some…discrepancies in the official reports. We've already been over the files from his time in the Academy though. However, recent events need to be taken into account. During his team's tenure on Earth before they captured Megatron, they were confronted in battle with Megatron and ended up dispersing the Allspark. Fought against Megatron himself twice, and Megatron's soldiers multiple times. There has also been an addition to his mod file in the form of…a jetpack? An Autobot with flight capabilities. I wonder what they got the information to build that from."

"Yeah, because I don't think that the Council would let anybot near the scan data they have stored on Pandimala." Blackbit jumped in before shaking his helm. "Through events that the files seem…hazy on, the Magnus Hammer ended up on Earth while Ultra Magnus was…recovering." We all flinched at that reminder. Ultra Magnus, while maybe not a friend, was a very good acquaintance of mine. It had shocked me to learn that the Decepticon Shockwave had been able to attack the leader of the Autobots here on Cybertron of all places. Blackbit soon continued. "With the use of the Magnus Hammer, Optimus Prime had his second recorded fight with Megatron and was able to take down the leader. They then returned to Cybertron with an almost restored Allspark along with Megatron and his top lieutenants." Blackbit then shut down the report he had brought up as did Chem.

Hinge, though he didn't bring up a report on Optimus, seemed to think for a nano before he slammed his servos onto the counter…causing the rest of us to jump in surprise. "I hate working with unfinished reports. This is sloppy even for a cover up." Hinge then took a drink of his midgrade with Magnesium coils before he continued. "While I commend Optimus for his defeat of Megatron, and I do not doubt that he fought with the leader, I feel like there had to be more contact between the two. From how these reports are written, you would think that they only fought twice. While Optimus may be leagues better than what the Council put in his official report, there is no way that a mech with as much experience as Megatron would be fallen by a mech who only faced him twice."

"I agree." I added my two credits in. "How did Megatron even end up on Earth? All the official report said was that Optimus' crew was lost in space while defending the Allspark. Had the Decepticon leader ended up attacking the ragtag Autobot crew?" I then motioned to the three mechs sitting in front of me. "While I'm sure the Council have their…reasons for keeping the information on exactly what happened on Earth to themselves, I wonder just what happened. "

"So do I my friend." Hinge agreed with me, his helm tilted slightly. I recognized that stance. He was trying to figure out something. What that was, however, would be interesting.

After a few clicks, though, it was Chem who seemed to have an idea pop into his helm. "Slapjack," His idea included me? Well I felt honored. "while Bumblebee and Sari were in here, you say that Lavana exchanged her comm lines with Bumblebee?"

That was right. "Right. Plus, I gave my own to the techno-organic. I felt that she would be able to help me with some…projects." Like getting a certain yellow mini-bot with black markings and my usually anti-dating waitress/barkeeper Lavana closer together. I was planning a little…surprise supply trip to Earth and I was going to be bringing Lavana with me. Who knew how long I was going to have to stay on the organic planet?

"You exchanged numbers with Sari as well?" Chem asked me, bringing me back to the current topic of interest. I nodded in response so he continued. "Well, if you both could, try to ask that team as many questions about what happened on Earth as you can without losing them as contacts."

I nodded at that and went to the back while they continued to talk. Something was building up on Cybertron, that I knew. Stellar cycles of experience told me that, when this something finally came about, that things were going to change…drastically.

As the old saying went, Cybertron would always find itself in turmoil…until all were one.

* * *

 **Pandimala: *smirks* Well, this is certainly getting...juicy.**

 **Authoress: *frowns* You're not funny Pandimala.**

 **Pandimala: *smiles* What? What did I do?**

 **Icy: *nods* Yes Authoress. I do not see what is wrong.**

 **Authoress: *facepalms***

* * *

 **AN: And here is the next chapter everyone! I hope you all enjoyed it! I was so glad to have the opportunity to get this to you all on my birthday...*glances and sees cutting it close* Well, not a lot of time. So, I hope you all have enjoyed this so far. Next chapter will be having a little time skip to begin. Not much more to say for now (and slightly tired to say more) so please review with any comments, concerns, random things, or if you just want to say hi. Flames will be used on a random Cybertronian.**

 **...Well, until next time, TTYL! *tries to think of how to write a good poem***


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